Ice Breakers
by jellybean77
Summary: 'Harry Potter  also known as The Boy who Lived or the Chosen One  was charged and prosecuted yesterday for helping two Mudbloods who were awaiting the Dementors kiss. Potter, 21, will spend one year in the new detained London prison...' HP/DM SLASH!
1. The Caught One

**DISCLAIMER: ****I do not, nor will I ever, own any of Harry Potter or its contents apart from this plot, and something new I have created… You shall see…**

**A/N:** I hope people read this! Basically, if you haven't read my profile then you will not know that this very story used to be on another account (also my account). **I did not steal this story!** It is all mine. I have changed accounts for a complicated reason – if you would like to know then look on my profile. If you do not care, however, then that's great, and please feel free to read on Just don't accuse me of stealing this story if you think you've seen it before, as it was on another account that was my own and no one else's!

**WARNING: Rated 'M' for later chapters. Sexual content and male on male action, don't read if it offends you!**

Summary: Harry Potter has just turned twenty-one years old, it has been four years since Dumbledore left him the task of finding and destroying the rest of the Horcruxes, but hope has gone downhill… With Voldemort and his 'armies' of Death Eaters roaming all over England, all the Muggle-borns and some half-bloods are being taken away, either to die or rot away in a new prison. Harry's hope also dies away, but when he is taken into the prison, he meets a new source of comfort to him that changes his attitude. **There are a few elements of DH in here, but obviously I have changed it a bit. All the information up until the end of HBP stays the same, however. Hope I made that clear. **

**Ice Breakers**

The Caught One

**The Caught One**

_Harry Potter (also known as The Boy who Lived or the Chosen One) was charged and prosecuted yesterday for helping two Mudbloods who were awaiting the Dementors kiss. Potter, 21, will spend one year in the new detained London prison. Witnesses say that Potter was 'different' to how they had known him to be at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, perhaps less hopeful about his plans to overthrow the Dark Lord. He was, however, seemingly pleased at his efforts to save to the Mudbloods in question, Hermione Granger and… (Full story page two.)_

"Ron, what are we going to do?" Hermione cried as she put down the copy of the _Daily Prophet_ that she had been reading.

"Look," Ron said, going to sit beside her, "We just need to not worry, keep calm. Harry wouldn't want us to worry about him."

"But Ron, I've heard things about that prison," Hermione choked, "It's not like Azkaban, Dementors don't guard it, Death Eaters do! And think how much worse a Death Eater can treat people than a Dementor can!"

"I know, we all know," Ron replied consolingly, "But Harry's strong, he'll get through it. A year is like a week to him."

Hermione jumped and turned at the sound of someone scoffing at Ron's words behind her.

Ginny stood in the corner of the room, like a lingering shadow in the darkness. Her tone shocked Hermione as she spoke; it was like she had been kissed by a Dementor, and all her hope and warmth was gone. "Harry had given up hope of winning this war long before he went to save you and Colin. He won't last three days in there, not if what I've heard about it is true. He's got no hope, no love, nothing left to give."

Hermione turned away and burst into tears yet again. It was true, that when Harry came to save Hermione and Colin Creevey only the day before, he had seemed almost half dead already when he thrust his fathers old invisibility cloak into Hermione's hands. So how would he get through a year in a prison built for death? Hermione knew of no one yet who had come out of there a stronger person; they had all committed suicide _if_ they had come out alive.

"Shut up, Ginny!" Ron snapped over Hermione's cries. "If that's all the faith you have in him then you don't deserve to be his girlfriend!"

"You know you're thinking it too!" Ginny argued, "All you have to do is imagine what you'd be like if you went in there, because Harry's no different to us. Do you really think you'd have hope if you were in a place like that?"

"You need to get some sleep, Ginny, you're not thinking straight," Ron said defensively.

"No, you're right, I'm not. But I'm thinking probably the same way Harry is right now: Like a dead man walking."

"Harry is not going to die!" Hermione exclaimed suddenly, making both Ron and Ginny jump.

"I hope not too," Ginny said quietly after a moment, tears now filling her eyes. "But do you really think that You-know-who is going to let him out of there after a year? Just let him go to carry on trying to kill him?"

Before either Ron or Hermione could say anything, Ginny had walked out of the room. The two of them sat in silence for a moment, Hermione staring at Ron for some sort of comfort. Instead, he spoke about something else.

"We need to pull ourselves together, Hermione," He said softly. "There are two more Horcruxes to find and we could get them and destroy them in the year that Harry is away. Then when he comes out he can kill You-Know-Who. And the whole thing will be over…"

"Didn't you hear Ginny?" Hermione barked, "Harry is not going to live to be able to fulfil the prophecy. It's never going to be over!"

"He's been gone one day and you're acting like this already?" Ron shouted.

"Harry knew it!" Hermione shouted back, "I could see it on his face yesterday. You weren't there, Ron. He told me to get myself and Colin out. I asked him what he was going to do, and he said he'd follow on behind. Well how would that work when he didn't have the cloak? He knew that he was going to get caught, so I'll bet he just went for one last walk around Hogwarts before he did. He went to say goodbye."

Ron stared at her for a few minutes, stony-faced with fire burning in his eyes.

"You're the one who never gives up," He whispered, "You're the one who kept us going all that time when we were searching for Horcruxes. And when I left you were the one who stuck with Harry because you believed in him. Well now I believe in him. And I'm not going to let him down just because you and Ginny have got your knickers in a twist! If you won't come with me, I'll find the last two Horcruxes alone, and Harry will have _me_ to thank when he comes out next year."

Ron stood up and walked away from the table, away from Hermione. Her face was now dry, but she still sniffed as she said, "Why?"

Ron stopped and turned to look at her. "Because I love Harry, and I love you. I'm not going to let him or Dumbledore down."

A tiny smile appeared on her face and she looked down to the paper lying on the table. She then took it, stood up and threw it in the fire.

She looked back at Ron and saw him smiling widely at her before she said, "Where are we starting then?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hope you all like it. Thanks for reading. The next 6 chapters will probably come up really quickly – because they're already written! It's after chapter 7 that I will begin writing again Enjoy!


	2. The Cellmate

The Cellmate

Harry walked through the corridor, head held high, shoulder's back. He ignored the whispers and sometimes shouts and jeers that came from around him, and the occasional slap of a whip on his back, as if he was cattle.

"Is that Harry Potter?"

"Harry Potter, I read about it in the Prophet…"

"It _can't_ be Harry Potter!"

"Now we're all doomed!"

"Finally stood up to the fact that you're a failure, have you Potter?"

"Handed yourself in, Potter?"

Yes, as Harry Potter walked through the prison, the calls seemed to get more horrible, and Harry suspected that the Death Eaters were putting him in the centre of the prison, where all the really evil – well, or good – prisoners were, just to stomp on his pride even more.

One cell he walked past was completely silent, and he took his chances at looking in quickly before the Death Eater behind him whipped him again. Inside, he saw two girls, one of them looking strikingly familiar to him as she stared from the shadows into his face.

But then the whip hit him, and he carried on moving.

It seemed to go on forever; people shouting, telling him it was all his fault. He recognised people from Hogwarts, all half-blood or less. Every now and then he'd see the odd 'pure-blood' in a cell, probably in there for not following Voldemort, if it were possible… Harry knew even Muggle-borns who were trying to suck up to the snake-like wizard these days.

Not before time, Harry heard a deep voice behind him say clearly, "Stop."

Harry did so and looked around to his right, but the guard walked to his left and then blocked the view into the cell when opening it. As he moved aside to let Harry in, Harry stared at him confidently.

"Don't you look at me like that, boy," Said the Death Eater, whom Harry didn't actually recognise, "Or you'll earn yourself a punishment before being in here an hour! Now get in! Why don't you make yourself at home?"

Then, with brute force, Harry was pushed forward and into the cell onto the floor. He heard booming laughter behind him followed by a loud banging which was the iron door slamming shut, and he was thrown into almost complete darkness, were it not for the tiny opening in the door and a feeble flickering candle that was evidently on a table at the other end of the cell.

Harry let his eyes get used to the sudden darkness and then stood up slowly. It was very cold in the brick surrounded room, considering all he was given to wear were some very thin trousers and a matching t-shirt. His feet felt like ice on the stone floor.

He made his way over to what looked like a bed on the right hand side of the room, but when he sat on it he found that it was nothing more than a wider than usual bench with some padding only about an inch deep on top.

He sighed and leant back against the wall, feeling a lump building in his throat. He would not cry... He had expected this to happen whilst telling Hermione to save herself and Colin yesterday. It was a cowards way out, he supposed. Giving himself in without actually crawling up to Voldemort. He hadn't planned it, but being in the grounds of Hogwarts again after so long had broken him. He couldn't help but remember happier times, no matter how long ago they were. His Hogwarts years were now a distant memory; a dream that seemed to no longer be real. And standing there, next to the lake, Harry realised; the nightmare was never going to end. Four years he, Ron and Hermione had been searching for Horcruxes, and they had found two. He couldn't go on letting people down any longer. He wanted to hide away, somewhere no one would find him. Of course, upon reflection his plan to go and sit in the Room of Requirement for a few hours until he regained himself was utterly ridiculous. As if he thought that the Death Eaters wouldn't come looking. They had reached him before he even walked past the Great Hall.

His eyes shot over to the candle when it suddenly flickered quickly as if there had been a gust of wind, his mind snapping out of his thoughts. He looked at the candle for a moment and saw that there was something next to it. He stared at it and figured out that it was that day's copy of the _Daily Prophet_, showing the headline of himself being caught by Death Eaters Yaxley and Dolohov.

So there was someone else in this cell. Of course, the Death Eaters wouldn't put him alone so that he could have a quiet year to think out his plans for when he got out. If he got out…

Suddenly, with another start, Harry heard the paper rustling and then drop to the floor. He heard the wood of the bed creaking as the person turned around, presumably to face Harry. And then, the person spoke.

Harry's eyes widened in shock at the sound of the voice. He had no idea where this person had been for the past year, but he hadn't realised it was in here…

"Well, well," Said the same snide voice from their Hogwarts years, "Harry Potter. In my prison cell. Never would have thought it. Saw your article in the Prophet earlier but I didn't realise you'd be in here, with me."

Harry said nothing, he was going to let Malfoy get it all out of his system before he fought back.

"It's going to be a great year, isn't it Potter?" Malfoy continued. "Never knew you would succumb to my level. What really bought you in here, I wonder? Not saving the Mudbloods... Perhaps you finally realised that _he_ can't be beaten..."

Harry jumped off his bed, "Shut up!"

"Calm down, Potter," Malfoy said smoothly, "Being angry isn't going to get you anywhere in this prison. You have no wand to curse me with, and I have none to curse you with. So we may as well get along. Besides, we're all friends in this prison."

"What?" Harry asked after a moments pause where he begrudgingly sat back down.

"Well, perhaps 'friends' is too strong a word…" Malfoy muttered to himself.

Harry stared across at him. The most he could see in this dark light was his white-blonde hair shining in the faint candlelight, but nothing else. This was not the Draco Malfoy he had known at school after all… His voice was certainly the same, but he seemed to have changed somehow. Perhaps the prison had done it to him; Harry could only wait and see if it changed him too.

"Goodnight, Malfoy," Harry said stonily as he lay down.

"Yes, we should get some sleep, we have to get up early…" Malfoy said as Harry heard the creaks of his wooden bed.

"Up?" Harry asked.

"Yes; work, Potter."

"Work?"

"Well, I suppose you have never done a day's proper work in your life, have you?" Malfoy said more considering than condescending.

"What?" Harry said dumbly.

"Goodnight Potter."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked. There was no reply. "Malfoy?"

"Goodnight Potter," Malfoy repeated.

* * *

><p>"Potter, get up! Get up, Potter! Get UP!"<p>

Harry opened his eyes slowly and saw Malfoy hovering over him, shaking him violently.

"What?" Harry said dizzily.

"Inspection, Potter, stand up!"

Harry realised with a start that Malfoy was holding his arms and pulling him up off his bed and onto his feet. That alone was enough to wake him up and make him stand up straight.

"What do you mean, inspection?" Harry said, still slightly sleepily.

"They come to check us," Malfoy said a little less frantically now, whilst throwing Harry's wafer-thin blanket neatly over the bed. "Stand in front of the door."

Harry did as he was told, and not a moment too soon.

The door flew open in front of their faces as send a gust of chilling wind over them. A huge Death Eater stood before them, with a black beard. It was Albert Runcorn, the Death Eater Harry had turned into at the Ministry of Magic by use of polyjuice potion when he was supposed to be in his seventh year at Hogwarts. He now understood totally why witches and wizards had walked away quickly at the sight of him.

"Malfoy, Draco?" Runcorn said in a deep booming voice that Harry remembered coming from his own mouth.

"Yes," Malfoy replied confidently, but not loudly.

"Family?" Runcorn said.

"Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy; alive, in Azkaban," Malfoy answered, again confidently.

Harry listened hard but looked straight ahead. He should have asked Malfoy what happens in the prison last night.

"Crime?"

"Failure to follow the Dark Lord's punishments."

"Punishment?"

"Five years."

Then, without warning, Runcorn turned to Harry.

"Potter, Harry?" He seemed to say this name with more sneering in his voice.

"Yes," Harry replied, trying to sound as confident as Malfoy had done.

"Family?"

Harry paused for less than a second…

"Family?" Runcorn repeated louder.

"James and Lily Potter… Dead…" He said, with seemingly less confidence.

"Cause of deaths?" Runcorn asked maliciously, and Harry had a feeling that that question was not on the list.

He paused for a moment. Why was he finding it so difficult to say? He spoke about the curse all the time…

"Cause of deaths, Potter?" Runcorn asked, angrily this time.

"Killing curse," Harry said quickly.

Harry looked up at Runcorn's face, he sneered and said, "Good…" While writing something on his notepad. "Crime?"

Harry tried not to laugh at this. "Rescuing two Muggle-borns," He said as if it were ridiculous.

"Two what?"

Harry jumped out of his skin and looked up at the Death Eater, who now had his clipboard at his side and his wand pointing at Harry.

"M-mudbloods…" Harry stuttered, shocked.

Runcorn held his pose for a moment but then lowered his wand, cleared his throat and said, "Punishment?"

"One year…" Harry said.

Harry expected him to just move on then, but unlike what he did after Malfoy, he stayed and said, "It's a wonder I don't kill you, boy. How dare you snigger at me? You're lucky it's your first day, or you wouldn't be standing right now. Clean up your act, or you'll regret it!"

And with that, he turned on his heel and walked to the next cell, where Harry heard him say the name of someone he had never heard of. As he went to turn back into his own cell, he saw that the doors of all the cells already visited by Runcorn were still open, and almost every person was staring at him, including the girl Harry was sure he recognised from somewhere.

"Don't take what he said to you for granted, Potter," Malfoy said suddenly from his bed. At Harry's questioning look, he said, "You _are_ lucky he didn't have you begging for mercy. I had it on my first day here. Took me almost a week to recover."

Harry considered him and then sat down opposite. "What happens if you're not ready in the morning?"

But Malfoy didn't need to answer, for at that moment, an ear-piercing scream rang through the stone walls of the entire building. Malfoy jumped up and looked down the corridor, and when Harry saw everyone else doing it he, too, got up and looked out.

Just two cells away from theirs Runcorn was holding his wand towards the floor, where Harry saw a girl with ginger hair screaming for her life. She jerked outrageously and hit her head on the wall, but Runcorn didn't stop.

"In bed?" He shouted, "Asleep? I'll teach you how to wake up in the morning!"

Suddenly, a wave of something ran through Harry. That ginger hair looked so like Ginny's…

Harry's right foot darted out of the cell as he made to run over to Runcorn and stop him, but Malfoy grabbed his arm and tugged him back in with surprising strength.

"Don't!" He said through gritted teeth, "You can't play the hero in here Potter! If he'd seen you…"

Malfoy shook his head and walked back to his bed once more. Harry stared at him and finally started to understand. If Runcorn had seen him set foot outside his cell, he'd probably be dead right now…

The screaming stopped, and Harry sat down.

"How are you supposed to wake up without an alarm or something?" He asked quietly as he heard Runcorn firing questions again.

"You're not supposed to 'wake-up'," Malfoy answered, "The whole thing is designed to make you too scared to sleep at all – to make you weaker."

Harry paused. "Do you sleep?"

"Occasionally. But my body generally tells me to wake up now. Either that or I hear a scream from down the corridor which wakes me," Malfoy replied.

"Why did you wake me? I would have thought you'd love to see me tortured," Harry said honestly.

But to his surprise, Malfoy looked slightly hurt at the comment. "I know what it's like, Potter, I'm not willing to let someone have that done to them. Besides, like I said last night, we're all… 'acquaintances' here."

Harry was slightly embarrassed by the fact that he had seemed to upset Draco Malfoy, and again, he had the feeling that he had changed a lot since their school years. They sat in awkward silence for a few minutes as Runcorn's voice steadily got quieter, Harry desperately trying to think of something to talk about. But what could he talk about with a Malfoy?

"Five years, then?" He said pathetically a few minutes later.

"Yes, failure to live up to the name of a Death Eater," Malfoy answered carelessly, "I'm the only Death Eater in the prison as a prisoner, you know. There are a select few pure-bloods – a handful – but they are in here because they simply wouldn't serve the Dark Lord, whereas I did, but then I failed."

Harry couldn't even look at him by the end of it. The fact that he was sharing a cell with a Death Eater was bad enough, but Malfoy, whom he had known about and no one had believed him! The irony was horrific.

"I needn't ask what you're here for," Malfoy said out of the blue, "Although I do wonder why the Dark Lord didn't just kill you when they found you…"

"I expect he just wants to degrade me," Harry replied, almost as carelessly as Malfoy had done, "He wants to drag me through the mud and toil before he kills me. He's heartless, he wants me to suffer before I die, rather than just kill me mercifully. I have to admit that I'm certain I won't actually leave this building in a year's time."

Harry looked up and saw that Malfoy was looking at him carefully, an extremely worried look on his face.

"You won't survive a second in here with that attitude," He said. "People outside need you, you have to make it to the end and get back out there and fight!"

"The war's over, I lost," Harry replied angrily, "It's true what they all shout at me, I'm a failure…"

"Potter, if you think like that you'll end up killing yourself," Malfoy said. "You need to… You need help. You need to get away… Save yourself…"

Harry laughed sarcastically, "And how am I supposed to do that?"

"Not like that," Malfoy replied, "There's a way you can get away but stay here…"

Harry was lost now, "What?"

"You need to…"

"UP!"

Draco stopped in mid sentence and got up and stood at the opening to the cell.

"Potter," He whispered frantically, pointing to his side.

Harry stood up quickly and went to stand next to him. He looked down the corridor and saw Runcorn now standing in the middle of it. His clip board had vanished and he had his wand in his hand.

"OUT!" He yelled, and suddenly, everyone took a step out into the corridor. Harry followed suit as quickly as he could. "WORK, NOW! GO!"

Hundreds of prisoners turned on their heels, Harry did the same so that he was now behind Malfoy, and they walked quickly down the corridor and round the building. Harry had no idea where they were going, or what 'work' would be, but he decided there and then to stick with Malfoy, as he seemed to be helping him, and he vowed not to lose him, for the good of his own health…

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I hope you enjoyed the second chapter. This is generally the real length of my chapters... The prologue is always short in my stories. Thank you so much for reading, I'll upload chapter 3 soon!


	3. Ice Breakers

Ice Breakers

Harry started to sag as he continued to walk after ten minutes already. Still in the long line, he felt someone behind him push him to get quicker every now and then, so he kept his eyes firmly on the back of Malfoy's head and moved his legs as fast as he could, but every time his bare feet touched that jagged, stony path, he sagged.

He soon felt small stones piercing his feet and almost stopped. But then he realised that was what they wanted. If he stopped because he was in pain, he'd merely be killed; it was an excuse for the Death Eaters that Harry was sure they would not pass up.

Suddenly, Harry walked straight into the back of Malfoy and looked up. They had reached a building that was quite large and evidently made of stone. Just as Harry was about to chance a whisper at Malfoy, asking what they were doing here, or what was inside the building, Runcorn's voice echoed down the line.

"Four hours," He said deeply, and Harry could just make out an evil smile on his face.

There was still not much movement, but Harry heard Malfoy exhale quickly and roll his eyes at Runcorn's statement.

"Four hours of what?" Harry whispered so that he could barely hear himself.

But Malfoy didn't get a chance to answer, as Runcorn called, "IN!"

There was a great shuffle of movement and all the prisoners moved inside the building without being told twice.

As everyone gathered up in a huddle, Malfoy looked over to Runcorn and then whispered to Harry, "Are you warm, Potter?"

"What?" Harry asked, confused, "No, I'm quite cold…" He answered as he realised that he'd been cold ever since he entered the prison the night before.

"Good," Malfoy said as they got closer to the door.

Harry looked at him. How was Harry being cold a good thing? He glanced over at the large Death Eater rounding up all the prisoners and turned to Malfoy to ask, "What do we do in here?"

"Make sure you never get too hot before coming in here," Malfoy replied, not answering his question, "Or it would be such a shock to your system that you'd just die…"

"Shock to my system?" Harry replied, still confused.

But then he understood.

He and Malfoy reached the doorway into the building, and as soon as Harry stepped foot inside, he was freezing. It suddenly got very dark, and it took Harry's eyes a few moments to get used to the level of brightness, and he realised that the same thing was happening to everyone since no one really walked, but all shuffled across the freezing floor.

As his eyes became accustomed, he realised that people were all going in different directions, and he began to panic.

"Where do we have to go?" He said quickly.

And then he jumped when a hand wrapped around his wrist. Shocked, Harry flicked his arm and pushed Malfoy's hand off his arm.

"Do you want to stay safe, or not?" Malfoy whispered angrily beside him.

At Harry's absent reply, Malfoy took his wrist again and pulled him the way that not many people were going. Soon he found that they had reached another doorway, and it was even colder here. Harry almost bumped into another Death Eater who was standing at the door, wearing a large coat and gloves and shoes, but Malfoy pulled him quickly towards him.

As they walked past the Death Eater silently, Harry saw that they were walking into a dimly lit room. And the sight Harry saw was bad enough to make his skin curl.

It seemed, however obvious it was, that Harry was now standing in a freezer the size of the Dursley's house. And in the freezer were a few prisoners and three giant blocks of ice that would have been almost double the size of Harry's prison cell.

Harry shivered at the sight of them, and stood literally frozen on the spot until Draco tugged him forwards. He looked around and saw the other prisoners taking what could only be described as 'ice-picks' off the wall and walking towards the blocks of frozen water. And then, as Malfoy pulled him towards the wall, he gained back his resolve, stopped and yanked his arm away from Malfoy's hand.

Malfoy turned around instantly, his face angry, "Potter, don't even try it…"

But it was too late. Harry's voice rang out loudly in the silent room as he said clearly, "What the hell is this?"

When no one replied he said, "What are we supposed to do here?" But he thought he already knew the answer.

"We're ice breakers, Potter," Malfoy said quietly, "You have to crush the ice…"

"Crush the ice?" He repeated, teeth chattering, "That's rubbish! Why can't the Death Eaters just crush it with magic?"

Harry jumped almost a mile as a snide voice spoke behind him – too close behind him…

"Because that would be too easy now, wouldn't it…" The Death Eaters hand grabbed Harry's shoulder and span him around to face him. "Oh, Harry Potter," The Death Eater sneered. "You'll soon learn not to question our ways, boy. Well you're lucky, there's no work for you today…"

Harry didn't get a chance to do anything as the Death Eaters wand came out and Harry felt invisible ropes bind him up, and then the next thing he knew, he was being pulled away from the blocks of ice, away from Malfoy and the on-looking prisoners and out of the room.

He was then being pulled through the large dark hallway, which was now clear of people, and through into another room, which no one had been walking towards before.

The door was opened and inside was one, gigantic block of ice, double the size of those in the other room. Harry had no idea what was coming, and he wasn't told; the Death Eater said nothing as he shoved Harry towards the ice. But Harry daren't say a single word, for his punishment (whatever it was) may become worse.

Then, without warning, a ladder appeared next to the ice, and the Death Eater pushed Harry towards it, saying harshly "Up."

"What?" Harry asked, still struggling against the restrains of his invisible ropes.

"Get up," The Death Eater said, pointing at the ladder.

Harry stared at it for one moment and then walked slowly towards it. It was incredibly difficult to climb, as the ropes had not been removed from around Harry's body. And then he reached the top of the ladder, and suddenly everything became clear. His punishment was to stand or sit or lie on the ice. For how long, he didn't know…

And then a rush of cold air blew over his chest and stomach and he looked down to see that his t-shirt had been removed by magic. And as he looked, his trousers, too, disappeared.

He stopped and turned back to look at the Death Eater, although how it would help was unknown to him.

The Death Eater wore a sneer that would surpass that of even Draco Malfoy in their Hogwarts years as he said slyly, "Get on, and lie down."

Harry turned back to face the ice. There was nothing for it. He had to do it. Slowly, he wiggled his toes to try and make his feet slightly warmer, took a deep breath, and stepped off the ladder onto the ice.

At first, it didn't seem that cold, but ice never did when you first touch it. He laid down quickly on his back so as to get all the shock in one, but he was ok for the moment.

"I think one hour should be enough to teach you not to cross us again, Potter," The Death Eater said from below him.

Harry said nothing, but turned and watched the dark haired man walk away.

At first, Harry thought this was a rubbish punishment, but after a few minutes, he started to feel pain like he'd never felt before – and complete terror.

Every now and then he'd try to move his arms or his hands and fingers, but they were stuck to the ice. And it was so cold that it burned him. It soon began to feel like he was lying on fire, not the opposite. After a length of time that he didn't know, he could no longer hide his pain. He knew that there was at least two Death Eaters outside the door, but he couldn't stop himself from screaming. He was sure that it would pass, and that his skin would go numb, or that his body heat would melt the ice. But the room was kept so cold that he thought even his tears would turn to ice and stick to his face, were they shedding.

He tried to move again, but he was stuck. His mind started to play tricks on him. They were going to leave him here. Leave him in this room so that his blood would surely turn to ice and he'd die. He couldn't take it anymore, he had to get up. But every time he tried to move he could almost feel bits of his skin leave him and stay with the ice. He started to hyperventilate, his chest was heaving, surely his heart would freeze at any moment… The erratic breathing made him dizzy, and the room started to spin. He screamed again and again, not knowing what words were escaping his lips...

And then, suddenly, a voice somewhere in the distance said, "Up, Potter," but Harry barely heard him over his screams.

And then something remarkable happened, the ice he was laying on turned to water. Still freezing cold, but he was no longer stuck. He laid there for a few seconds, trying to concentrate on breathing evenly.

"Get down, Potter!" Yelled the Death Eater.

Harry did as he was told and sat up, but as soon as he did a whole new pain shot through him. The burns on his back stretched and felt as though they cracked. He shouted out again but tried to gain composure as he realised that his binding invisible ropes had vanished and he looked for the ladder. It had gone.

"Get down, Potter!" The Death Eater repeated violently.

Harry slowly put his legs over the side of the ice, and attempted to lower himself onto the floor gently, but his arms had no strength in them and he fell, knees buckling, and falling on his side.

Then, he heard the deep laugh of Runcorn again. "An hour is a particularly long time, isn't it, Potter? Even for you." Harry tried to scowl up at him. "But the Dark Lord told us to find any excuses we could to punish you, and so we will do. So you'd best watch your step."

Harry's clothes all of a sudden appeared next to him on the floor, and he pulled them on with great difficulty.

"Now get up and go back to your cell. You're not fit to work for us," Another Death Eater ordered.

Harry stood up with immense difficulty, and limped out of the building. At the doorway, however, he stopped as he remembered how far they had walked just over an hour ago, and the pain he had felt on his feet.

He jumped, however, when a Death Eater spoke behind him, "What are you waiting for, Potter? Quickly, now."

Harry took another deep breath and stepped onto the gravel path he had walked on to get here. He knew the Death Eater was behind him every agonising step of the way, so he never tried to sneak onto the grass that lay either side, nor did he ever try to walk slower. And finally, when he reached the strange comfort of his cell, he stood there with dignity, his shoulders back and head up, until the door was slammed in his face, and he collapsed in a heap on his bed.

* * *

><p>The next thing Harry knew, there was light in his room again and he saw that the door was open. People were walking past slowly, trying to get a good look at him. It was evident that the Death Eaters had done this on purpose, just to degrade him even more.<p>

Harry watched them pass for the moment but then tried to ignore them. It was then that he realised how much the back of his entire body hurt. It was like he had gotten severe sunburn, and it burnt for anything to touch it.

He was looking at the back of his arm when he heard something behind him.

He turned around quickly and saw the girl he had recognised the day before upon entering the prison. She looked tired and pale, not to mention hungry. The thought then crossed his mind, too, did they ever eat in here?

He was brought back to the present moment, however, when the girl spoke in a shaky voice, "Are you feeling better?"

Her voice was high, and he recognised it from somewhere. And for some unexplainable reason, he thought of Ron.

"Erm, a little," Harry replied, his voice cracking from lack of use.

"I know it hurts," She said, looking pointedly at Harry's ice burns, "I've had it done to me twice. Only for half an hour each time though…"

Harry didn't really know what to say. He supposed 'who are you?' would have been good. But he didn't need to ask, for the girl walked further into his cell and said, "You recognise me, don't you?"

Harry nodded slowly, "Yes."

"I'm Maisie Cattermole," She said, and it suddenly slicked in Harry's head, "You saved my mother at the ministry nearly two years ago. You're friend was impersonating my father."

Harry nodded quickly and made a weak smile, "I remember. I told her to get her children and leave the country…"

Maisie nodded sadly, "We tried… My father suddenly turned up and told us that Harry Potter had been at the Ministry, and my mother explained that she saw you and you told us to save ourselves. You're so kind."

"Well, I wasn't going to just let your family carry on working for the ministry, not when your mum is muggle-born," Harry replied, "So… What happened? What went wrong with your escape?" He asked uneasily.

Maisie lowered her eyes, "We were just crossing the boarder to France the next day, and Voldemort himself found us. I think he was personally looking for you. My father, brother, sister and I were all taken to Azkaban, because this prison wasn't built then, but my mother… She was taken away to be a slave I think. We don't really know."

"That's awful," Harry said, and he was shocked to suddenly realise that she was sitting next to him on his bed.

"I know, but we're confident – that is, my brother, sister and I – that when you get out you can still make everything right," She smiled at him, something that was difficult to do in this place.

He didn't quite know what to say then. He wanted to tell her that he war was over, and the good side had lost, but she looked too innocent…

"How old are you?" He asked.

Her expression suddenly changed to one that reminded him of Ginny when she was younger, "Fifteen," She answered proudly.

Harry shook his head slowly at her. He didn't want to be horrible, but he had to say it…

"You're naïve to the world. The war's over… I'm in prison…"

"You mustn't think like that!" Maisie said quickly, her eyes now wide and alert. She moved suddenly closer to him, Harry backed his head away a little. "You mustn't get too caught up with bad things… You should get away…"

'Get away', he'd heard that before…

Harry had no idea what was happening, Maisie was getting ever closer and Harry was just confused. But then there was a sudden noise at the doorway to the cell and Maisie jumped back.

Harry looked around and saw Malfoy looking at her, with one eyebrow higher than the other.

"Maisie," He said curtly.

Maisie stood up, "Good afternoon, Draco."

"Not bothering Potter, are you?" Malfoy asked as he strode into the small room. "He's had a long day, he doesn't need you nagging him."

"I wasn't," She replied bitterly.

"Well then off you go," Malfoy said quickly, more like an order than a suggestion, "Your brother and sister will be worried about you."

Harry watched Maisie's expression change many times in a second, and she turned round, said "See you later, Harry," and exited their cell.

Harry turned back to look at Malfoy, who had taken his top off in a second and was resting his back against the wall.

Harry went to ask what that had been about, but Malfoy spoke first, "How are you feeling?"

Harry thought. "Burnt," He replied.

"Yes, but aren't you _scared_ of the Death Eaters now?" Malfoy asked, sort of sarcastically.

"No," Harry replied certainly, and Malfoy gave him a sarcastic look, "I'm scared of ice," Harry finished.

Malfoy's face broke into a smirk, "Yes, that too," He said.

There was silence then. Silence that was surprisingly a lot warmer than it should have been.

"Malfoy," Harry said after a while, and Malfoy looked at him, "What were you trying to tell me this morning? And why was Maisie going on about 'getting away' as well?"

Malfoy looked at him for a moment, eyes narrowed in a considering fashion, and then he said slowly, "You're a lot younger than you actually are, Potter, did you know that?"

"What?" Harry asked, confused.

"Potter," Malfoy said, suddenly assertive and looking at him straight on, "I don't know what you and your little girlfriend Weasley do in the bedroom, but you have to put that behind you in here."

"What?" Harry exclaimed loudly.

"You're never going to last half your sentence in here if you keep yourself to yourself," Malfoy explained, "Maisie was right when she said you shouldn't get caught up with bad things. She meant that if you are 'content' with your own company and your own horrible thoughts you'll never get through this."

"Well I don't intend to go round getting to know the locals, Malfoy!" Harry snapped.

"You don't have to get to know them, but you can't think about your Weaselette any longer," Malfoy said.

Harry was slowly realising what Malfoy was trying to tell him. "There's only one way to get away…" He said slowly, and Malfoy nodded. "And I can't think about Ginny…" Malfoy nodded again. "You want me to have sex with people?" He said bluntly, neither angrily nor loudly. For that he found simply ridiculous, almost laughable.

"Well that's up to you, Potter," Malfoy said quietly, "But if you don't you'll find you go insane a lot quicker than anyone else around here."

"Malfoy, it's insane enough to go around and have sex with people I don't know…"

But Malfoy cut in, "Like I told you earlier, Potter; we're ice breakers. That's what we do. We don't only break solidified water… There's another type of ice that one can't see, but can only feel. And once you've broken through it, you'll feel freer."

Harry stared at him, slightly worried for Malfoy's sanity. But he didn't have time to voice his opinions, as a rough voice from the corridor shouted, "Shower hour!"

Malfoy stood up and suddenly completely changed his attitude. "This might hurt you today, Potter," He said.

Harry was still bemused from the things Malfoy had just said that he replied, "W-wha…"

"The showers, they'll hurt you because of your punishment you had. You won't like it."

And Malfoy was right. Ten minutes later, Harry stood in another part of the same building, watching people take their clothes off to strip down naked before getting in one huge shower. Some people walked around with no dignity, but others covered themselves up with their hands.

This was bad enough, but when the shower was turned on for the first handful of people in there, he saw the thing that Malfoy was referring to back in the cell.

It was not water pouring from the shower heads, but small, crushed, sharp bits of ice. Harry assumed this was the ice that the prisoners had been crushing all morning.

Harry swallowed and began to breathe quickly.

"Don't worry, it's not too bad," Malfoy said under his breath as he took his clothes off without a care.

Harry followed suit slowly, trying his best to cover himself as he walked closer to the shower.

But minutes after Malfoy's words, there was a scream and a woman ran out holding her eye.

"Don't look up," Malfoy advised.

"Has anyone ever died in here?" Harry asked quietly as they got ever closer.

"A few times," Malfoy answered, "But they were weak already. Old, or young, thin, nothing to keep them warm." Harry was not comforted by this.

Soon enough, Harry and Malfoy walked into the shower with others around them. Harry found it exceedingly difficult not to scream as the sharp ice pierced his blisters on his back. He noticed, however, that other people had slight blisters also, and they were not screaming, so he refrained. He didn't see how this would help to clean them, but the icicles were small enough that they did melt to water while still on their bodies, so they could at least wipe any dirt off themselves.

After the shower, the rest of the day was spent doing nothing. This surprised Harry, as he thought it was rather easy going. But then again, they only had one meal, which was rather sickly. Harry noticed that in the afternoon people seemed to wander around for a while and then disappear into each others' cells. He didn't like to think of what they were doing, and he daren't step outside of his cell since all the doors were open so he would just see it happening, in plain sight! Malfoy, however, stayed with Harry, which he begrudgingly thought was quite kind of him. To stick with him after such a terrible first day.

As Harry went to sleep that night, he thought about the things Malfoy had said to him, and about Ginny, Ron and Hermione, and about the excruciating pain on his back. His thoughts travelled to that of Voldemort and the Horcruxes that he had yet to find. And then, he understood what Malfoy meant. If Harry thought about this every night for a year, he would go insane. But just before he fell asleep, he decided that there must be another way to forget about these things, and to survive through his sentence. He would never succumb to that level.

* * *

><p><strong><span>AN:** Hope you enjoyed! What do you think of what the cellmates do every day? Do you think Harry will succumb to that level? Review! Thanks for reading :)


	4. To Get Away

To Get Away

Harry's vision blurred yet again as he raised his ice pick high in the air and threw it back down into the block of ice. He closed his eyes tightly for a moment and opened them again - this helped his vision only slightly. He turned his head slowly and looked at the Death Eater stood by the door. He was watching Harry, as if waiting for him to fall so that he could send him off to more punishment. Voldemort must have given orders to punish Harry more regularly than other prisoners, as the Death Eaters lunged at every opportunity to torture him. But even after five hours (much longer than usual) in the ice room today, Harry had not done anything wrong... yet.

Harry turned quickly back to his pick and pulled, but it wouldn't move. This had happened before, but after over two months of working, little food and punishments, Harry's muscles weakened, and every day he found it harder to release the pick from the ice.

He pulled and tugged as hard has he could without making a sound, for if he did, he'd be on the ice yet again. But mere minutes later, Harry found himself holding himself up on the pick, because if he collapsed on the floor, he would be punished.

He jumped and felt dizzy again as a sudden sharp voice echoed in the room.

"Time," The Death Eater said.

Harry panicked; he was sure that one more trip to the ice would finish him off... That would be what he lost if could not remove the pick quickly; his life.

He pulled and pulled, feeling worse every second, but it didn't budge. Then, gasping for air and about to give up, he felt something jab him in the side. He looked around and barely saw Draco before he had pushed his own pick into Harry's hands. Harry didn't stop to ask what was happening, but walked towards the hooks and hung up Draco's pick.

"Cells," The Death Eater was calling to all the prisoners, and Harry joined the swarms that were walking out of the door without looking back, for fear that the Death Eater might see.

As he walked back to the cells with everyone else, barely feeling the pain in his feet, he couldn't help but worry about Draco. He didn't know when, or how, but Malfoy had somehow become Draco in his head over the past two months. Sure, he still called him Malfoy to his face, but he was more than that now. Harry had grown a strange respect for him, even though he tried to convince himself he still loathed the man. But Draco had done so much to look after Harry, and Harry was sure he would be in a worse condition now - if not dead - if Draco hadn't looked after him.

Finally Harry reached his cell and his bed. As soon as he laid on it his eyes drooped shut. And then, he felt himself slipping away... He couldn't sleep, what if he didn't wake up again? So many times in the past two months he had seen that happen, someone fall asleep and die. He wouldn't let that happen to himself... But his eyes would not open again...

"Don't shut your eyes!"

With a great effort Harry's eyes snapped open. He saw Maisie Cattermole standing at his door. She did that quite often nowadays, and it had started to get on Harry's nerves.

"You can't sleep, Harry!" Maisie continued, letting herself into the cell and onto Harry's bed. "How many times do we have to tell you?"

"I wasn't sleeping," Harry moaned weakly.

"You were going to!"

Harry did not continue that conversation, as something else had suddenly sprung into his head.

"How long have I been asleep? Where's Malfoy? Is he ok?" Harry said quickly.

The look on Maisie's face plainly stated that she thought those stupid questions; she obviously didn't care about Draco as Harry did.

Wait. Care about him? Harry, care about Draco?

"I saw him being taken by Runcorn as I was leaving the ice hut," Maisie replied blankly, "Why? What did you do?"

But Harry did not reply; his sudden worry for Draco had made him dizzier and his vision blurred again. He slowly sat up and put his head against the wall. The light from the corridor felt as though it was burning his eyes, and the thing he wanted to do most in the world was shut them.

He heard Maisie sigh next to him and knew exactly what was coming next. "You need to regenerate, you know. You're going to die if you go on like this."

"Maisie, don't start that again," Harry warned, although, his voice was so weak and quiet that he was surprised she heard him.

"I'll say it every night until you get the message or die, Harry!" Maisie snapped.

Something inside Harry then snapped. He still felt weak and ill, but he took a deep breath and said as loud as he could, "You're a fifteen year old girl, Maisie, and I'm not going to have sex with you just because _you_ think it will make me feel better!"

"It will!"

Harry heard someone clearing their throat loudly and looked over at the door. Draco was standing there watching them. A wave of relief fell over Harry, although he could see that Draco was in pain.

"Not long on the ice today, Draco," Maisie said, still sitting beside Harry.

Draco didn't reply straight away, but walked slowly into the room and sat down uneasily opposite them. "Not as long as you would have liked, I'm sure," He said slightly vehemently.

Harry knew exactly what he meant and felt himself getting a bit hotter in the face.

"I'm sorry, Malfoy," Harry said quietly.

"It's ok, like Maisie said, it wasn't for very long today," Draco replied. There was then a tense silence in the room, even as people still continued to pass either way out in the corridor. "Well Maisie," Draco suddenly said, standing up, "Thank you for keeping Potter alive while I was gone, but you can go now." And he raised his arm to show her out of the cell.

Harry looked around at Maisie's face then and was shocked to see that she looked extremely angry. She stood up rather reluctantly and walked to the cell door with Draco at her side. Harry watched them for a moment but then decided to close his eyes, as the light in the corridor was still too bright for him.

"No doubt we'll be seeing you tomorrow?" He heard Draco say in a slightly sarcastic tone.

"No doubt," Maisie replied, and then there was a pause in which Harry felt certain they were both looking at him. "You can't have him to yourself all the time you know, Draco. You have to let him go sometime. He's not your pet to do whatever you like with! He can make his own decisions!"

"And by the sounds of what I walked in on, he has!" Draco replied quickly.

Maisie paused for a few seconds. Harry's eyes were still closed, and he didn't have the energy to open them or to tell them to shut up talking about him as if he weren't there.

"Maybe he has for now, but people can change their minds, Draco, and do you really think that when he does he'll jump into bed with you? The _boy_ who used to make his life hell at Hogwarts?" Maisie snapped, putting particular emphasis on the word 'boy'.

"He knows what you're doing, Maisie," Draco said quickly, anger dripping from every word, "And he's smart enough not to jump into bed with a stupid little girl who's had sex with probably everyone in here, including her younger brother!"

Harry's eyes opened quickly as he heard a hand slapping against someone's skin, but saw that Draco had stopped Maisie from slapping him by catching her wrist in his hand. He then pulled her viciously closer to himself and whispered in her ear, "Leave him alone. He is a grown man who has no time for stupid little girls. Get out."

Draco released her and she looked over at Harry, her face livid. "I don't want him anyway, he's just a bastard who doesn't know what's good for him! Good luck with that one, Malfoy."

And with that she left the room quickly and disappeared around the corner. Draco stood still for a moment and then turned to walk slowly back to his bed.

"Sorry you had to hear that," He said as he sat down with difficulty, "She's just a slapper who wanted a piece of the famous Harry Potter."

"I realise that," Harry replied, closing his eyes again and lying down. "Thank you for getting rid of her."

A few minutes passed in silence, and Harry's breathing became quite difficult as he fell towards an uneasy sleep. But then Draco spoke again which brought him back. Harry hadn't realised Draco was so close to him, but his voice was louder than it had been.

"You're dying, Harry," Draco said steadily.

Harry couldn't open his eyes, but sensed that Draco was kneeling at his bedside. He could think of no response to such an intense statement.

"It's a long time since I've had... Someone else in here with me," Draco said as Harry's breathing became shallow and slow and his body seemed to shut down. "However much I hate to say it, I've grown rather fond of you. It's nice having someone dependant on me. I don't want you to die Ha - Potter."

But as he felt the thin sheet of his bed being thrown over him, Harry heard no more.

* * *

><p>His nose twitched before his eyes at the smell of food in the room. He distinctly smelt the out of date tomatoes and stale bread that they were given every evening. Harry's eyes flickered open.<p>

The cell was dark now; the door had been closed. He could make out Draco's face in front of the gap that the Death Eaters pushed food through, before that hole was closed as well. They were then plunged into darkness, and it took Harry's eyes a few moments to adjust to the light. When they did, he saw two plates and two bowls on the table in between Harry's and Draco's beds. Why Draco was not eating his, he did not know, but he saw the silhouette of Draco sitting on the edge of his bed, his elbows at his knees and his back bent, apparently looking at Harry.

Harry, feeling slightly better after sleeping, pushed himself up shakily into a sitting position, and took his plate of bread.

"Potter," Draco said abruptly, "You're... Ok."

"Yes," Harry replied after swallowing a mouthful of ill-tasting bread. And it was then that Harry remembered the last thing he had heard before falling asleep. _'You're dying, Harry.' _"I'm not dead," Harry added.

"I was hoping you'd wake up," Draco said, "You can eat my dinner, too."

Harry was on his tomato soup by now, and after glugging some down, he replied, "No, you need food."

"You need it more than I do," Draco said, "You almost died earlier."

Harry smiled weakly, "I fell asleep, that's hardly..."

"No," Draco interrupted, "While you were sleeping, I noticed you stopped breathing."

"I stopped breathing?" Harry repeated, aghast. "Then, how am I..."

"Well, I..." Draco stumbled, and then said, "A Death Eater came, resuscitated you with his wand. They've never done that on anyone before. The Dark Lord obviously wants you alive. So eat."

His mouth gaping open at the story, Harry put his plate and bowl back on the table and took Draco's from it.

"If the Dark Lord wants to fight you, I want you stronger than you would be with just one meal a day, as well," Draco said as Harry ate.

"No," Harry said in between mouthfuls, "This is the only time I eat yours too, or you'll end up like me."

"I won't," Draco replied definitely.

"And how's that?" Harry asked incredulously.

"There are other ways of keeping energy up."

Harry didn't reply, he knew what Draco meant.

"As much as I loathe her, Potter," Draco went on, "I agree with Maisie Cattermole."

Harry sighed and put the plate and bowl back on the table. "Meaning?"

"Meaning," Draco started in what Harry considered a very sly tone, "That you know you're curious. And you should just forget about her."

"Who?" Harry asked.

"There, you've forgotten about your precious girlfriend already," Draco said quite happily.

"I haven't forgotten about Ginny!" Harry burst angrily.

"Of course not," Draco said, his voice now dripping with sarcasm. "But you still have seven and a half months in here, Harry. Do you think a mans hormones can go that long without acting?"

By the end of the sentence, Draco's tone had changed yet again, to something Harry had never heard from his voice. He would almost call it 'seductive'. And for some reason, Harry felt a twitch down his back and fidgeted in his seat. Immediately, he knew this was the wrong thing to have done; he could just about see a smirk stretch across Draco's face.

"I thought not," Draco said, as if Harry's fidget had answered his question.

"It might be true," Harry said confidently, "But I'm faithful to her. I love Ginny."

"And I loved Pansy before I got thrown in here, but that didn't stop me," Draco replied.

"We obviously have a very different idea on what love is then, Malfoy."

"Don't call me that," Draco said abruptly.

"What?" Harry asked, slightly confused.

"Don't call me Malfoy. We both know you view me as more than that now," Draco said.

"What makes you think that, _Draco_?" Harry said, putting extra force on the word 'Draco'.

But Draco didn't reply. Harry saw Draco's body relax before he heard him sigh easily, and for some reason, this made Harry's body tingle all over and he gulped his dry throat.

"I saw you shiver," Draco said silkily as Harry hastily looked away from him. But Draco wouldn't stop, he kept talking, putting emphasis on particular words... "Was it the _pleasure_ of saying my first name that made you _shiver_? Or was it watching me _throw_ my head back that _excited_ you so much?"

And suddenly Draco was right beside him, his hand on Harry's leg, running up it. Harry took a deep breath and tried to exhale steadily, but it came out in jagged shots as Draco's hand moved to the inside of his leg instead. This couldn't be happening. A few words forced in the right way and Draco was over here touching him... He knew where Draco's hand was heading, and was sickened at the thought that he would already be hard and hot when the hand got there. Perhaps Draco was right? Harry couldn't possibly go a year without this... How he missed Ginny... Her thin neck and long, sweet-smelling hair...

Harry came back to reality. He looked down at Draco. His hair was not long, and his neck was not thin. This was a man that was feeling Harry up... He couldn't...

But that neck had something different about it than Ginny's. It was thicker and stronger... Draco's pale skin stood out in the darkness, and it sucked Harry in... Draco's hand was so close now... There was only a few seconds left for Harry to stop it...

But he didn't.

"Ah..." Harry's whole body clenched at the same time Draco's hand wrapped around him, and he started to shake.

Draco lifted himself up so that each of his legs were either side of Harry's, and his free hand pushed Harry's back against the wall.

"Your lips were so soft..." Draco whispered in Harry's ear.

Among Draco's voice and feeling his hot breath against his ear, Harry barely managed to cough out a reply, "What?"

"When I tried to save you... Before the Death Eater came... It was the best thing I've felt for a long time..." Harry swallowed, but again found that his throat was completely dry. "I would like to feel it again..."

Harry held his head back for a moment, breathing quickly. Too quickly. He saw Draco lick his lips seductively. Harry did too. Draco's hand was still firmly holding Harry's hardened length, and at one last little tug...

Harry's head sped forwards and his lips collided with Draco's. They were surprisingly soft, perhaps because they were wet, Harry didn't know, nor did he care. Draco shifted his position on top of Harry and Harry felt that he, too, was completely turned on by the whole affair. Then Draco's mouth opened and Harry felt his warm tongue enter his own mouth. Harry slipped his past Draco's and explored the blonde's mouth for what felt like an age, before, suddenly, Draco's hand left Harry's cock and pushed against Harry's other shoulder. Harry slid himself against the wall and ended up lying down on his bed, Draco lying on top of him.

Surprising even himself, it was Harry that made the next move. His hands searched for the bottom of Draco's shirt and tugged it off when he found it. Harry threw it across the room as Draco sat up and pulled off Harry's as well. Draco then laid back down, his left hand grabbing Harry's side, albeit gently, and his right hand moving up into Harry's hair. He tugged at it not enough to hurt him, but enough to somehow cause pleasure for Harry. Whereas Harry's hands seemed to be automatically exploring Draco's back. In some places, he felt the softest skin that he thought possible, but in others, he felt Draco flinch slightly as Harry's hands ran over old and fresh blisters from the ice.

Soon, the intense kissing stopped, much to Harry's disappointment. But Draco lifted up his head and suddenly arched his back, causing his own cock to push next to Harry's, and Harry had never felt such a sensation. A rush of something swam through him, and before he knew what was happening, neither he nor Draco were wearing anything at all.

Panting quickly, Draco stopped and looked Harry in the eyes. Harry felt like he wanted to say something, and he knew Draco was thinking the same thing, but both of them just stared at each other, unable to speak.

Harry shuffled and went to get on hands and knees, but as he was moving, Draco spoke.

"It hurts," He whispered, in a tone that Harry hadn't heard before - very caring. "The first time. It hurts."

Harry turned to look at him. The hair next to his forehead was slightly matted from sweat and hung in front of his eyes, and he saw Draco's expression change as he looked at him, but to what, he didn't know. "I trust you," Harry whispered.

Draco looked away from him, so Harry also looked away. He felt Draco's hands touching his sides, rubbing them gently, as if lulling him into a false sense of security, for, the next thing he knew, one of Draco's hands disappeared and Harry squirmed as something was pushed inside him. Another, and then another finger was pushed inside Harry while his panting grew and grew until...

"Ah..." Harry went rigid, and Draco's hand was removed, but replaced quickly by something a lot bigger and hotter.

Harry fought the temptation to jerk forwards as he felt Draco's hands on his hips again, as he started to move extremely slowly backwards and forwards.

Harry's breathing was the loudest noise in the room - a substitute to calling out random noises and feeling stupid.

But then Draco sped up and moved further every time he did. And with every desperate thrust Harry was taken further and further away from the cell, away from the prison. His mouth opened and noises started to escape from his lips, but the same was happening with Draco. Sweat fell from his head as Draco's hand found Harry's cock and rubbed that at the same pace as his thrusts. Harry, too, started to move with Draco, forgetting where they were and why they were there... His head filled with thoughts of Draco, and only Draco. And how soon this might end... It wouldn't end... Harry moved faster and faster, the pain vanishing and being replaced by a pleasure so strong that nothing would ever surpass it or make him think of anything else but this...

Harry came in Draco's hand, but they still moved together. Faster and faster until...

Draco called out first and Harry trembled slightly as he felt a warm sensation fill him up, and Draco slipped out as they both collapsed in a heap on the bed.

For minutes they both lay in silence, Harry wanting to keep the memory in his head for as long as he could. For he now understood completely the meaning of 'getting away'. His mind held on to the picture of Draco looking at him so caringly until Draco moved and got off the bed, back to his own.

As Draco stood up Harry felt a cold rush of air on his wet skin, and found is trousers to pull back on. Still, neither of them said anything, but Harry knew that was ok. There was no awkwardness in this room, he could tell, this was just the way things went.

After many more minutes in silence, Draco finally spoke.

"This means nothing, you know that?" He said calmly into the darkness.

"I know," Harry said honestly.

"Goodnight," Draco said.

For the first time in a long while, Harry smiled, "Goodnight," He replied.

However, Harry did not sleep for a long time after that. He stayed awake, clinging to the idea that he might be able to get through this sentence after all. His mind did wander to Ginny, and he felt a stab of guilt, but he reluctantly decided that if she was here, she'd do exactly the same thing, and a lot earlier than Harry had done, he was sure.

When he did feel like finally going to sleep, he found it immensely easier than usual, because all the horrible thoughts were blocked out by thoughts of this evening. Harry smiled to himself when he thought of Maisie Cattermole. She had been right all along; even when he was weak, this would help him get stronger because he could get to sleep earlier because there were no terrible thoughts keeping him awake.

Finally, his last thought before he fell asleep was of what Draco had said earlier. Harry was no longer going to die. As long as he lived the same as this for the rest of his sentence, he wouldn't die as Draco said he was earlier.

But then, from that thought something else sprang up in Harry's head. He remembered falling asleep after Draco had told him he was dying; he remembered the sheet being thrown over him, and Draco's voice rang again in Harry's ears...

_"It's a long time since I've had... Someone else in here with me. However much I hate to say it, I've grown rather fond of you. It's nice having someone dependant on me. I don't want you to die Ha - Potter."_

Harry barely remembered Draco saying it, but it was there, in his head. And Harry was shocked. He didn't know what to believe. He knew that he, Harry, thought it meant nothing, but Draco had contradicted himself. _"I've grown rather fond of you..."_ He had said. So did it mean nothing to Draco, or not?

Many minutes after, the same thought still on his mind, facing Draco, Harry finally fell asleep.

* * *

><p><strong><span>AN:** I love ending chapters with questions, lol! Sorry if you think it's cheesey! Let me know what you think!


	5. The Letter

The Letter

"Potter! You've got visitors."

Draco pushed Harry against the wall as he heard the familiar voice of Runcorn echo down the corridor. Both he and Draco stopped and turned their heads towards the closed door. But after a few seconds, Draco turned back to Harry and continued to pull his top off.

"Refuse to go," Draco said before licking a vein in Harry's neck.

With Draco using persuasion like that it was hard to resist, but he had never had a visitor here before - never in nearly four months.

"Who could it be?" Harry asked, ignoring Draco rubbing his cock.

"Who cares?" Draco replied.

Harry heard heavy footsteps in the corridor outside and pushed Draco away - which used a lot of effort - and put his shirt back on.

Seconds later, the cell was flooded with bright light as Runcorn slid open the door quickly.

"Visitors, Potter," He said gruffly.

"Hasn't anyone else got visitors tonight?" Harry asked, remembering that usually there was a list of people called out at this time.

"Yes, none on this corridor though," Runcorn answered with a malicious look at Draco, "Now get out!"

Harry looked at Draco, who looked quite wary, and walked out of the cell, a little apprehensive.

Runcorn slammed the door without a single word to Draco and started to walk. Harry had never been to the visitors room before, so had no idea where he was being taken. And the fact that no one else in his corridor had visitors today unnerved him. He then started to regret that he had left Draco in such a hurry, especially when they hadn't had sex together for a couple of days. He wondered if this was going to turn out to be a horrible trick from Voldemort.

However, as they reached a room two minutes later and walked in, he saw lots of prisoners being greeted by loved ones and his eyes widened and his heart leapt as he saw the unmistakable red Weasley hair and... long blonde hair...

"Forty-five minutes," Runcorn said as he walked away and to the door.

And then the two people turned around in their seats. Ron and Luna Lovegood were smiling up at him. Well, Ron was smiling, Luna was... not Luna.

Harry knew in an instant that it was not the real Luna Lovegood, because she never cried.

"Harry!" She cried as he walked over, and she jumped up to hug him. He knew those hugs anywhere; it was Hermione.

"Alright, mate?" Ron said, also giving him a hug.

Harry sat opposite them, positively shaking with shock. "How - what?" He stuttered.

"Oh, Harry, you look awful..." Hermione cried.

"Oh, thanks," Harry replied sarcastically.

"I'm sorry, but... You're so thin and... and pale!"

"Yeah well, they don't feed us very well," Harry said dully.

"That's terrible. Do you have to work? What is it?" Hermione asked quickly.

"Wait, before we get onto that, how did you two get in here?" Harry asked.

"Well, my Daddy stopped writing good things about you in the Quibbler, plus I'm pure-blood, so I have no reason to be locked up." Harry had to admit, Hermione was a very convincing Luna.

"And my dad is keeping his head down at the Ministry," Ron explained, "Following orders, you know. And then there's Percy," Ron lowered his voice, "He's realised now, after you got locked up, he said sorry to all of us, but is pretending to still be on the Ministry's side. Plus, I'm a pure-blood too."

"Well aren't you two lucky," Harry said with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

Ron and Hermione looked guiltily at each other.

"Sorry mate," Ron said, "We don't mean to rub salt in the wound..."

"I'd like it if you did, doesn't salt heal things?" Harry said.

"Well, that's an old Muggle thing," Hermione replied, "Why?"

"They don't whip you, do they?" Ron asked.

Harry considered Ron for a moment, and then shook his head, "No, they don't whip us."

"Well good," Ron said huffily, "If they did, I've have something to say about it!"

Harry smiled gratefully but said, "You couldn't do anything about it, Ron."

Ron's hardened face melted away and Hermione looked pityingly at him. "Oh, Harry, you look terrible," She said again.

"Don't keep saying that to him, he looks fine!" Ron snapped.

"I'm sorry, it's just... We miss you so much! When you get out..."

"If, Luna," Harry cut in, "If I get out."

"What are you saying, of course you'll get out!" Hermione laughed nervously.

Harry looked over to one of the Death Eaters standing by a door. He was smiling evilly at Hermione's words.

"The Death Eaters saved my life two months ago," He told Ron and Hermione. "They saved me from dying in my sleep so that Voldemort can kill me later."

"Don't think like that!" Hermione almost shouted, but Ron sat staring at him, Harry knew Ron wouldn't kid himself.

"What? You think the Death Eater just decided to be kind and save me, just to save me?" Harry challenged.

"I - Yes," Hermione said slowly.

Harry actually laughed a little bit. "The Death Eaters don't have good days and bad days; they're bad all the time. Every tiny thing I do that goes against their rules, even slightly, I'll get punished for it. Voldemort wants me weak, but alive when this year finishes."

"What..." Ron gulped, "What sorts of punishments do they give?"

"Well, if we're in the ice hut, they make you lie on the ice for a while; the longest I've ever had is an hour, its agony. But if we're anywhere else in the grounds, they usually use crucio you if you do something wrong," Harry explained easily.

"The cruciatus curse I understand," Hermione said, "But lying on ice? What's the ice house?"

"That's where we work," Harry answered.

"What do you have to do?"

"We... We're ice breakers," Harry replied, feeling slightly odd using the phrase that Draco had told him so long ago.

"Oh..."

Ron and Hermione looked at each other again, as if worried for Harry's sanity as he looked dozily across the room.

"What's been going on out there then?" Harry asked, looking for an interesting change of topic.

Hermione sighed, "Nothing really. Ginny misses you so much," Harry felt a prang of guilt, "Ron wouldn't let her come today, and although she fought him I think she was secretly quite glad of it; she didn't want to see you like this." Hermione smiled weakly at him. "She gave us a letter to give to you..." After a quick glance at the Death Eaters, Hermione passed Harry a rolled up piece of parchment. Harry took it and hid it under his shirt quickly. "Hermione Granger is still in hiding with Neville Longbottom," Hermione went on, lowering her voice and leaning closer too, "We think they're probably somewhere in London, although we can't be sure."

Harry had to hold back a smile at this. He knew she had said it for a purpose, and sure enough, he looked over at the Death Eater by the closest door and saw him listening intently. And Harry was sure that Ron and Hermione were nowhere near London.

"So you're not with her then, Ron?" Harry said, playing along.

Ron shook his head sadly, "No, I had to be shot of her. She was too risky for me to be around."

"Have you heard anything from her?" Harry asked. "I got myself thrown in prison saving her, she best be lying low," He said, glancing into Luna Lovegood's watery eyes.

"She is," Luna replied.

"Potter! Out!" The Death Eater from the closest door stomped over and yelled, attracting attention.

"What? I haven't done anything!" Harry shouted back, knowing that it was the wrong thing to do, but he didn't care.

"Unless you want to get your two friends in here too, I suggest you follow my orders without a fight, Potter!" The Death Eater yelled, punching Harry to the ground.

"Harry!" Hermione shouted.

"Leave it!" Harry said breathlessly, having just been winded, "Go home!"

"We'll see you soon!" Hermione called as she and Ron were ushered out of the room.

And then they were gone.

"Up, Potter," Runcorn growled.

Harry stood up as quickly as he could and looked up at the Death Eater.

"Back to your cell, and not a word, Potter, or you'll regret it."

Harry began to walk the way they had come, completely aware that Runcorn was striding along behind him. When he reached his cell door he stopped and waited for Runcorn to open it, but he didn't.

"Can I go in, please?" Harry said, but he had done wrong.

"I said, not a word, Potter," Runcorn said in a low voice, sneering evilly and pulling his wand out from his robes.

"You tricked me into talking!" Harry shouted, knowing full well that all the prisoners would have their ears pressed against their cell doors, listening.

Runcorn didn't reply, but bent down and opened the food hatch at the bottom of the door to his cell. Harry looked down at it and instantly saw Draco's white-blonde hair appear. Harry shifted his eyes to look stonily into Runcorn's.

"So what exactly is my crime this time? Caring for people?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"Nothing, we just wanted your 'friends' to see how well we treat our prisoners," Runcorn replied with an evil seer.

"And what are you going to gain from that?" Harry almost spat back, furious at the Death Eater.

"Power, Potter. Also, we don't think you deserve to see your Muggle-loving friends at the moment."

"I don't deserve it? What have I done that other prisoners haven't?" Harry fumed.

"For a start, this whole conversation has been a big mistake," Runcorn replied, and then, more suddenly that being punched in the stomach, he said... "Crucio!"

Harry fell to the floor with an almighty crash, banging his head on the wall as he did so, but he hardly felt it. Pain that he would never get used to, no matter how much this unforgivable curse was performed on him, coursed through his body. He distantly heard himself screaming, but the words he was shouting didn't register in his brain. Flashing images shot before his eyes as his back arched jerkily and his limbs flailed around in the air.

It stopped. Harry gasped for breath as he listened to Runcorn's insane laughter. He moved his eyes to look into the food hatch in his cell door, but Draco was no longer there. Come to think of it, Harry wasn't sure why Runcorn had opened that.

"More, Potter?" Runcorn said.

Harry looked up at him breathing more calmly now. He shook his head slowly.

"Good, perhaps that will teach you not to talk back to your superiors then." Harry's cell door opened quickly and hit Harry's head that was still on the floor. "In, Potter."

Harry tried to draw himself up to his full height as he stood up, but his left eye had gone blurred from the force of the door smashing into him, and he felt like he was walking like a hunchback.

He stepped into the cell, and before the door closed, Runcorn said, "One more for luck..." And Harry fell back down and felt excruciating pain for five more seconds, before that ended and he was plunged into darkness.

Harry stayed still on the floor for a minute; it was comfier than trying to stand up. His breathing returned to its normal rate and his eye felt slightly better, although his head as a whole was still pounding. He then pushed himself shakily onto his bed and laid on it.

"Why were you talking back to him?" Draco said suddenly from his bed.

Harry sighed, "I was just angry..."

"You should know better than to answer back, Potter," Draco replied tetchily. After a few moments silence he asked, "Who were your visitors?"

"Ron and Hermione," Harry answered, "Hermione was disguised as Luna Lovegood. I didn't get to tell her not to do it again; if the Death Eaters had figured her out..."

"Well they obviously didn't, did they, so its ok," Draco said kindly.

Harry nodded and said, "She told me that 'Hermione' was hiding in London somewhere, to put the Death Eaters off her scent, which probably means they're really up in Scotland or Wales or somewhere like that."

"Yes she always was very..." Draco paused, and Harry smiled as he knew that Draco was having difficulty saying, "Very smart..."

Harry smiled again at the thought of Hermione and Ron now disapparating back to Ireland, and the look on the Death Eaters faces if they were to find out that a Muggle-born was right in their very prison this evening, and had slipped through their fingers.

"So you're all mine now, then?" Draco asked, suddenly extremely close to Harry.

Harry turned to look at him and felt his hand on his leg. "Well, I'm not going to get called out again, if that's what you mean," he replied, placing his hand in Draco's hair.

"No, I meant that your precious Ginny obviously doesn't care about you anymore, obviously if she didn't come to see you..." Draco said, his voice getting softer, the way it did before they were to leave the prison again...

But Harry stopped. He took his hand out of Draco's hair and sat up, reaching under his shirt to the top of his trousers. And sure enough, he felt the parchment of Ginny's letter. He had completely forgotten it was there. If it had fallen out while he was being tortured, he would surely have been taken to Voldemort, or Ron and Hermione would have been brought into the prison...

"What's that?" Draco said uneasily as Harry took the parchment out and looked at it.

Harry did not reply, but moved over to the floor where light still shone through from the corridor as a result of Runcorn forgetting to close the food hatch. He stared at the front of the folded up letter. Written in Ginny's smooth, flowing handwriting was the word 'Harry'.

"For pity sake, read it Potter!" Draco snapped, having obviously figured out what it was.

Harry looked up at him. He couldn't figure out the expression on Draco's face, but he certainly wasn't happy. Perhaps because he had never gotten visitors, or a secret letter from Pansy. Harry looked down again and started to unfold the parchment.

_Dear Harry, _he read;

_I don't really know how to start this letter, I've been sitting here for half an hour writing, then screwing parchment up! Ron and Hermione have been panning their visit to you for about a month, and they say they're going tomorrow, with or without me. I've been changing my mind, you see, whether or not to go with them. And I think I've finally decided not to come... I don't know why, exactly. I think I'm just scared of seeing the place where the Death Eaters surely torture you regularly... I can't bear to see you in such a place. And also, I'm sure they wouldn't let me hug you, or kiss you... I know its petty, but just to see you again wouldn't be enough to make me believe that you're ok. I'd need to touch you, hold you close to me to truly know that you're alive and well and before my eyes. I'm so sorry I didn't go with them, I hope you understand my reasons (you always understand me, better than I do!) and can forgive me. It seems such a long time ago when everything was easy, and we both thought everything would be ok. But then again, I suppose when I kissed you in my bedroom on your seventeenth birthday, you knew it wasn't going to be ok, didn't you? But you didn't let on. You've always been so good to me like that. 'Protecting' me from pain and just suffering yourself. And that's why I'm writing this letter really, to tell you that I love you. I know I've said it before, and I'll say it again, but right now, it really needs to be said. I love you. And I want you to remember that to help you get through the rest of the year. No matter what happens, I love you and I'll be right here when you get out of there. I know that you love me too, so don't worry that you can't say it back, just remember it. _

_Try and take care of yourself, Harry, and I'll see you in eight months._

_All my love, _

_Ginny._

_P.S Just in case Ron and 'Luna' didn't get a chance to tell you, they're getting married! Not Ron and Luna, of course, Hermione! Hermione's going to be my sister! They're waiting until you're out, so you can be Ron's best man. Woops, I probably wasn't supposed to say that..._

Harry dropped the letter. A rush of emotions ran through him. What was he supposed to feel? Love, guilt, happiness, sadness? Then there was nothing. He felt completely blank. Ginny had declared her undying love for him, while he was having sex with other women all over the prison, and one man more than any of them...

Harry looked up into Draco's face. He was watching him, as if on tenterhooks, waiting for some kind of conclusion. But he obviously couldn't wait long enough for Harry to gather his thoughts and start talking, for he suddenly burst out...

"You can't stay faithful in a place like this, Harry! It's not possible!" He said loudly, "Just listen, listen to the corridors!" Harry listened and heard the stifled moans of hundreds of people in cells, all getting away from their troubles in the prison. "There are people in here who have been married for years and they're fucking a different person every night! Of course she loves you, who doesn't? And of course you love her too! But there's a different way of life in here, Potter, a different way to survive! You can't stop it now you've started!"

Harry stared at him. He had no idea where that had come from, but Draco had evidently been thinking of a speech while Harry had been reading his letter.

"How did you know what she said?" Harry asked after a few moments of silence.

"Because Pansy did the same to me after six months," Draco replied. "She sent a letter in with Crabbe and Goyle. She told me how much she loved me, and, I must admit, I never felt the same way about her, but she still made me feel guilty. But I ignored it and carried on with what I was doing. I only got one more visit from Crabbe and Goyle after that, and when they told Pansy that I did not tell them to tell her I loved her too, she must have told them not to come again."

"I'm sorry..." Harry said slowly, feeling sorry for Draco that when he got out of the prison he'd have no one waiting for him who loved him.

"I don't care," Draco replied surprisingly, shrugging his shoulders, "Like I said, I never felt the same way about her, so it was no big loss to me."

"But surely love is what keeps you going in here?" Harry said.

Draco snorted out a laugh, "I've never loved, Potter."

Harry gawped at him for a moment. "Of course you have," He said disbelievingly, "You loved you parents, friends, family..."

"I have no room for love, Potter," Draco said, apparently getting agitated, "It only weakens a person."

Harry couldn't stand hearing such nonsense and spat out, "Do you know who you sound like?" Draco raised his eyebrows enquiringly. "Voldemort," Harry spat. "He refused to love, and look where that got him! Look where that got us!"

A long silence followed this, in which Draco's expression dropped. Harry picked up his letter and lay back on his bed, staring, stone-faced, up at the ceiling, clutching it in his hand. Thoughts of Ginny swelled in his brain; he knew he should feel a lot more guilty than he did right now, but for some reason he seemed to be past caring. Reading the letter at first was a big shock, hence why he couldn't think straight, but now his anger for Draco's thoughts towards love had overridden Harry's guilt.

Harry jumped violently as Draco was suddenly right next to him, saying, "Love can get you out of this though..."

"What?" Harry said angrily.

"Well," Draco said, "You were saying that the Dark Lord's lack of love got us in here - started the whole war, really - but if you hold onto your love, it might help."

Harry stared at him. "You great hypocrite!" He exclaimed. "How can you say that when you claim that you've never loved?"

Suddenly, Draco jumped up to his feet. "There's no pleasing you, is there?"

"What?" Harry repeated.

"I say something to make you feel better and you fly off the handle!" Draco shouted.

Harry rolled his eyes, he understood now. "And by make me feel better, you really mean get me in the mood!"

"Well what's wrong with that?"

Harry stood up in a rage and pushed Draco away, so that his knees buckled and he fell onto his bed. "Any chance you had of fucking me tonight went straight out of the window when you immediately jumped to the conclusion that I wouldn't want to after reading Ginny's letter!"

Harry heard Draco gulp - he had not expected a reaction like that.

"Go to sleep, Malfoy," Harry spat as he got into his own bed.

"Don't call me that..." Draco whispered.

"I'll call you what I like," Harry snapped, his anger getting stronger every second, "Go to sleep."

"It's still early..." Draco said quietly.

"I don't care, shut up and go to sleep!" Harry yelled, but this time, as he did it, something extraordinary happened.

The plates and bowls that were still on the bedside table from dinnertime fell onto the floor in a great gush of wind. The echo of the bang on concrete and brick went on for seconds, and when it died away, complete silence followed, as both Harry and Draco stared at the place they had fallen.

"Did you throw them?" Harry asked, somewhat quietly compared to his tone before.

"No, it was you..." Draco said, almost disbelievingly.

"How could I have done that?" Harry snapped quietly.

"You're a wizard, Harry..." Draco said slowly, "It was... magic..."

Harry stared at him again. Perhaps after such a long time in here Draco was going mad, for everyone knew that after a few months in this prison, the magic in a person would die out.

"Go to sleep, Draco," Harry whispered, laying back down and turning to face the wall, "You obviously need it."

"Harry..." Draco said urgently.

"Sleep, Draco!" Harry shouted.

And then, after a few seconds, Harry heard Draco turn over, and waited a long time until he heard Draco's breathing become heavier, so that he too could relax and fall into an uneasy sleep, dreaming of nothing but magic intertwined with loud and heavy moans, which he heard none of that day.

* * *

><p><strong><span>AN:** Oooh! Did Harry do some sort of magic? 'Where is this leading?' I hear you ask... Read on to find out :D


	6. Concentration

Concentration

Harry awoke feeling no better than he did any other morning, apart from having a little more sleep from going to bed so early the night before. He realised soon, however, that he must have woken up earlier than usual as well, because there were not yet the sounds of a Death Eater out in the corridor, swinging open the cell doors and torturing people for not being awake.

He looked across the darkness to Draco. He lay facing the wall, presumably asleep.

Harry put his head back on his tiny, hard pillow and closed his eyes again, although he knew he wouldn't get back to sleep, and he wasn't sure if he even wanted to after the dreams he had had that night. Now that he had woken up, he couldn't remember very well, but he saw things in his mind such as ice, knifes, Draco and different colours of flashing lights. He guessed that the flashing lights were sources of magic, and it was obvious that Harry was thinking of that because of Draco's accusation that Harry had done magic wandlessly last night. But that was ridiculous. And the knifes... he put that to the conclusion that they symbolised the ice showers, because those particles of ice were so small and sharp that they would cut skin. And the reason that Harry dreamt of Draco? Well, he dreamt about him every night. Usually his dreams of the pale blonde would mirror that of their actions in the middle of the night, and all Harry could hear in his dreams would be Draco's quiet and controlled moaning... But last night was quite different. Harry did not dream about the games they played with each other during relentless sex, but of something quite different...

Harry heard Draco's bed creak opposite him and turned to look. Draco seemed wide awake as he sat on the edge of his bed, apparently deep in thought. He must have been awake for a long time, as there was no trace of tiredness left in his eyes. Slowly, he turned his head to look at Harry, as if in consideration of him, but that expression vanished within seconds as he saw Harry staring right back at him.

"Morning," Harry said quietly.

"Morning..." Draco repeated. "How long have you been awake?"

"Not long," Harry replied, "You?"

"Long enough," Draco said, and he turned back to face the wall.

Harry watched him for a few moments and then turned away too. This strange silence in the room made him feel uneasy, and aside from that, he felt extremely empty this morning, despite seeing Ron and Hermione last night.

And then he realised. His eyes shifted over to the bedside table to look at the creased parchment that was Ginny's letter. Harry picked it up, scanned it one last time, and dropped it behind his bed.

"Draco," He said suddenly, "I'm sorry about last night."

Draco turned back to look at him, "What about it?"

"It wasn't normal," Harry explained. "I don't know about you, but I don't like change, and I definitely can't cope with it in here."

A thin smile spread across Draco's lips. "That's how I felt when Crabbe and Goyle came. It throws you off, doesn't it?"

Harry nodded. Another silence followed this, with the two men looking at each other, but this time it was not awkward.

"I feel weak again," Harry said, "Empty..." And that was the truth. Harry had realised why already. Last night was the first in months that he had not had sex with someone, and it really had left him feeling weaker. Maisie Cattermole and Draco had been right all along.

At Harry's words, a smirk flitted across Draco's face, making Harry smirk back, before he said, "As do I, Harry. As do I..."

"How long do you think it is until the Death Eater comes?" Harry said in a silky kind of tone, making to get out of his bed.

"Long enough," Draco said again, still smirking.

And then Harry was away. He stood up out of his bed and took the one medium length stride that separated his and Draco's beds. But when he reached Draco, something very odd happened as Harry leant towards him.

Draco put his hand up to stop him.

"What?" Harry asked, moving away slightly.

"Long enough for what, Potter? You didn't ask." Draco sneered.

Harry stared blankly back at him. "Do we usually ask for this?" He said slowly.

"No, we don't ask for what you were after," Draco replied, standing up suddenly. "I can go without it for one day, Potter, and I don't like doing it in the mornings."

Harry tried to stop himself from fuming. "Ok," He said, heaving a sigh, "What have we got 'long enough' to do then?"

Suddenly, Draco's amused face disappeared and he looked extremely serious. Harry was quite apprehensive to hear what was coming.

"I know you thought I was going insane last night," Draco started in a hushed tone, "But I know magic when I see it."

Harry tutted loudly and rolled his eyes before moving exasperatedly back to his bed. "Not that again."

"You didn't give me chance to talk about it last night!" Draco said quickly, "Just let me say something..."

Harry looked at him disapprovingly but raised his eyebrows for Draco to go on.

"Harry, you did magic last night. _Wandless _magic in a prison where everyone else loses their powers! Do you not realise how valuable that is? I mean, to do magic without a wand is amazing enough already; only the greatest wizards can do magic without a wand. But Harry, if you can master magic in here, in this prison, you could save yourself... save us all."

Harry stared at him again. He had to admit that Draco was making sense, but it was still just a crazy idea from someone who had been in prison for too long.

"Draco, it wasn't wandless magic I did last night," Harry said slowly, so as to help what he was saying sink into Draco's brain, "I just got angry, so I knocked some plates off a table. It's like before we go to Hogwarts, and we can't control what we do. That's all it was."

When Draco spoke next, it was a huge contrast from how Harry had just spoken. "But even that doesn't happen to people in here, Harry!" He said quickly. "And even if it was uncontrolled, it was still magic!" Draco then walked up to him and lowered his voice slightly, "If we can get you to control it... Think of the possibilities... You could be responsible for the freedom of hundreds - maybe thousands - of innocent witches and wizards!"

"I don't want to be responsible for anything!" Harry shouted so loudly that it echoed slightly in the small cell.

Draco jumped back and fell onto his own bed, his face horror stricken by Harry's outburst. A pause filled the room, in which only Harry's heavy breathing could be heard as he stared angrily at Draco.

"Is that it?" Draco whispered after a few moments. "Is that the only reason you won't except that you can do magic in here? You don't want the responsibility?"

Harry lowered his head and looked at the floor. "I've always been burdened with stuff thats impossible, I don't want it to be me anymore..."

"Harry..." There was a sound out in the distant corridor that told them the Death Eater had arrived.

"You don't know what its like for so many people to rely on you to save the world... And then they all hate you for it when you can't do it." Harry said quietly, feeling himself shaking inside and out.

"No one else will know what we're doing..." Draco said. "No one will be relying on you."

"You will," Harry said quickly, lifting his head to look at him. "Your sentence is five years, you'll be relying on me enough for all of them."

"I promise you I won't. I can survive in here, so if it doesn't work, I'll be ok," Draco said comfortingly.

Harry considered him, not differently than Draco did to him earlier. "What exactly will I be trying to do?" He said after a minute.

Draco's face broke out in a smile. "We don't have time now, but I've got a plan. Later, I'll talk you through it."

"I don't mean I'm definitely agreeing!" Harry said.

Draco merely smiled at him and said, "Make your bed, the Death Eater will be here in a couple of minutes."

* * *

><p>Harry was breaking the ice with the same determination that he did every day, but again, today felt different. It was as if all the energy had been pulled out of him, and for the first time in months, his head was spinning.<p>

It can't have helped that his mind wasn't fully on the job in hand; it kept wandering over to Draco's 'plan'. He had not heard it yet, but Harry was sure that when Draco explained it to him later in the cell, he would fall into it head first, as he always did. And then he would get so submersed within the plan to get out that he'd forget himself and get into trouble far too often, making himself weaker and weaker by the day, and then he wouldn't be able to put the plan into action when it came down to it and so he'd let everyone down again...

Harry was literally shaken out of his whizzing thoughts by Draco, and saw that the rest of the prisoners were moving towards the hooks on the walls.

"What are you playing at?" Draco whispered frantically, trying to get Harry to move, "Pay atten..."

But Draco didn't get to finish. Runcorn's hand had slapped itself onto Harry's shoulder so hard that Harry's knees buckled. Runcorn span him around and pulled the pick out of Harry's hands, pushing it into Draco's.

"Hang that up and get back to your cell before I change my mind, Malfoy," He growled.

Draco did as he was told straight away, and didn't even look at Harry once more.

Harry looked up at Runcorn, blank-faced, awaiting his punishment for not paying attention.

Runcorn grinned evilly, "You'd think you would have learnt your lesson after yesterday, Potter," He said, "But it seems that you're just too high and mighty to follow orders." A pause, and then... "The block room, now."

Harry looked down and walked towards the door quickly, hoping that the better he obeyed the less time he'd get on the ice. He could hear Runcorn's heavy footsteps following him and started to shake at the thought of time on the ice... He hadn't been punished like this for almost two weeks - good for his skin, bad for his nerves. For the longer a prisoner went without being punished, the less used to it they got. Harry knew that today he would scream as loud as he could and not be able to stop himself.

Harry stopped in front of the ice and started to remove his clothes as Runcorn said "Forty-five minutes today, I think."

Harry kept his breathing steady and did not say a word. Forty-five minutes was an exceptionally long time, and he was used to thirty minute tortures on the ice - fifteen minutes made all the difference sometimes.

"Up," Runcorn said, and Harry climbed up the ladder and laid down.

At first, the cold was soothing on his back, that was still healing from two weeks ago, but after just about a minute, pain and terror set in.

Harry squirmed and began to sob from pain. That was something this ice did to people, it took away their adult selves and turned them into children, crying children. But after a further five minutes, Harry was screaming at the top of his lungs and begging for it to stop. He twitched madly and tried to move his arms and legs, but they were stuck to the ice. He was going to die here, now. He'd never be able to get off and his lungs would fill up with ice-cold air and stop working...

"Down, Potter."

And then Harry was lying in a puddle of freezing cold water. He sat up far too quickly, feeling his brand new burns stretching on his back. He looked around, but of course, the ladder was not there.

Swinging his legs over the side, he let himself drop and crumble onto the floor in a heap. His clothes appeared beside him and with weak arms, he pulled them back on.

"Back to your cell quickly, Potter, before I decide to give you more."

Harry didn't even look at him, but found the remaining strength in his legs and sped off out of the room. The Death Eater followed him all the way back to his cell, so Harry had to concentrate on not fainting until he got there, otherwise he'd find himself back on the ice.

But then he turned the corner into his room and saw Draco lying lazily on the bed, and they were plunged into darkness as the door was closed.

Harry flopped onto his bed and started to cough weakly. His breathing was slow, but not deep - there were long gaps between inhaling and exhaling where he simply did nothing. The burns on his back were beginning to hurt more, turning into a painful throbbing. His feet were cold as the ice that he had just being lying on, and every now and then Harry shivered violently on his bed.

But then, after a few minutes, he felt a small blanket get thrown over him.

He turned his head and looked up. Draco was looking back down at him, a pitiful look on his face.

"If it makes you this bad, why don't you stop doing things to get yourself punished?" He said, sitting back down on his bed.

"It wasn't my fault!" Harry said meaning to shout, but it came out as a weak exclamation.

"Oh of course not," Draco replied sarcastically, "I am sorry for thinking that someone else made you not listen to orders!"

"If you hadn't planted stupid thoughts in my head this morning then I would have had my mind on the job!" Harry spat back angrily.

"Oh, so it's my fault you just spent an hour on the ice, is it?" Draco snapped.

"Yes," Harry said, "It is."

Draco did not reply, but the two stayed in silence for a few minutes. Harry couldn't deny that he was angry at Draco, but for some reason, he had this strange tickling in his mind that he wanted to hear about Draco's plan to escape.

As if he could read Harry's mind, Draco then broke the silence by saying, "I'm sorry the conversation this morning threw you, Potter. But I really believe you can get out of here, if you just practice how to control your magic. I'll help you, and no one else has to know."

Harry looked at him for a moment. "What's this plan you have?"

For the second time that day, Draco's face broke out in a smile. "Well, I'm... I'm not entirely sure yet, but I know the first step is to get you to learn how to do proper magic without a wand. Then whatever you learn how to do, we can use that to our advantage."

"You're not thinking of me just using magic to get past all the Death Eaters are you?" Harry asked, "Because there is only one of me, and a dangerous amount of them."

Draco laughed, "No one's that stupid, Potter; not even you. No, I was thinking that you might be able to dig a hole or something."

"Do what?" Harry said incredulously.

"Well, perhaps create a tunnel from here under the ground to the other side of the gate, so that it leads outside the prison," Draco said, although he did not sound utterly convinced at his plan, and Harry voiced why.

"Malfoy, now you're being stupid. You think my small amount of magic power that I have left in here would break a hole through this?" He slapped the concrete walls and floor with his hand. "It's going to be about power and energy. And after the work we do each day, I'd never have enough energy to do that."

Suddenly, Draco smirked devilishly."Do you remember how we get our energy in here, Harry?"

It was like pushing a button. That smirk, followed by the use of Harry's first name... It just turned him on without fail every single time.

"Well it has been a long time," Harry said, smirking back, "And they say I'm a very forgetful person."

Draco stood up, and Harry automatically did the same, "I think we've done enough planning for tonight," Draco said, taking off his shirt.

"I couldn't agree more," Harry said breathlessly as he pulled off his shirt in the short stride towards Draco.

And Draco's hand flew past Harry's ear and placed itself on the back of his head, pulling him forwards, his fingers getting caught up in Harry's messy hair. Their lips crashed together and opened up for each other instantly, mingling their hot breath and warm, silky tongues.

Harry walked forward until they hit a wall and raised Draco's arms above his head, holding them in place between the wall and one hand, while the other worked mercifully down Draco's body. Through his smooth, and yet somewhat wiry, hair; down his neck - the front of which Harry was licking and nibbling, causing Draco to moan softly; past his shoulders; down his toned chest and flat stomach until he reached the seam of Draco's trousers.

Both men stopped as Harry loosened the grip on Draco's wrists and stared at each other. Draco was wearing a rather strangled smirk and was already breathing quickly. The sight excited Harry; it was as if Draco had been having so much fun that he'd forgotten how to do either of those things.

Harry let go completely of Draco's wrists and watched Draco's arms come down slowly either side of his body until they, too, rested on Harry's trousers.

"You're the life of me, Harry Potter," Draco whispered in his ear, so delicately that Harry shivered.

Harry looked at him for a moment more before Draco plunged down quickly, taking Harry's trousers with him, and when he came back up, Harry did exactly the same to him before Draco pushed him onto his bed, and Harry finally escaped from the prison again...

* * *

><p><strong><span>AN:** Oooh will they escape? Tell me what you think!


	7. Something More

**A/N** I just want to say a massive thank you to 'captain kinna' for reviewing! I love getting reviews probably as much as I love writing the story! It makes me want to continue, so here is another chapter...

Something More

Harry's back arched and he let out a loud groan as he came in Draco's fast-moving hand, and shortly afterwards he shivered violently as he felt Draco release into him. It was strange, then, when Draco kissed him gently as he withdrew himself from Harry's body - he never usually did that. And then there was the holding of the hands, that was becoming a regular occurrence as well. Harry didn't know what to make of these things. When it first started happening, about three weeks ago, he assumed it was to comfort him, because that night Harry had started to cry for fear of failing Draco in the escape plan. And then the second time Draco did these things, Harry had assumed it was because he had earlier successfully made water appear in a cup they had kept from dinner that night, and so Draco was so overjoyed that he was holding Harry's hands and kissing him more than usual. But Draco kept doing it, and Harry was sure it was becoming second nature to him, and he didn't realise what he was doing after each time they escaped from the prison together.

Draco was still kissing him smoothly, stroking Harry's tongue with his, running his hand softly through Harry's ever messy hair. Finally, Draco pulled away and shut his eyes with his head on his pillow before even glancing at Harry. Harry watched him for a few moments before he, too, closed his eyes. But just as he did, Draco spoke.

"You're amazing, you know," He whispered, his eyes still shut.

Harry, however, was wide awake, and staring at Draco. "I don't think so."

"You are," Draco replied dreamily, "People will adore you forever once you get us out of here."

"If I get us out of here, Draco," Harry corrected him, "I've been practicing for four months, and it's still not going very well. Please don't get your hopes up."

"You sound like your mudblood Granger, Harry; don't worry so much!" Draco said with a sneer, his eyes still firmly closed.

But Harry stood up suddenly at Draco's words and pulled his clothes back on before getting into his own bed. When he lay down he shot an evil glance over at Draco, who was now wide eyed and watching him.

"Oh, come on, Harry," Draco said, "I didn't mean it, it's just habit..."

"You meant every word!" Harry shouted somewhat louder than he meant to. Lowering his voice, he continued, "She's my best friend, and you just insult her in front of me! And Ron! And..."

Draco knew what Harry had been about to say and his eyes narrowed in a vicious sort of way, making Harry stop dead in his tracks. For some reason, Draco hated it when he spoke about Ginny.

Over the past four months, Ron and Hermione had come to visit him once more, bringing yet another letter from Ginny, declaring her undying love for him and stating that she would be waiting - faithful - for him when he got out. Harry had read it back in his and Draco's cell and felt utterly disgusted and sick with himself. Draco could obviously tell something was wrong, and although Harry was sure Draco knew what the letter would say, Draco forced it from Harry's hands and read it himself. Harry had watched him as his eyes scrolled across and down the lines, and his face became more restricted of emotion than Harry had ever seen it. Restricted as though he was trying to hide his true feelings. And Harry had to hand it to him, he had no idea what Draco was thinking as he calmly (perhaps a bit too calmly) placed the letter on Harry's bedside table and sat down.

"Just say it," Draco whispered as Harry stared at him now, still holding his tongue. "Say her name, it's not illegal. You do love her, after all."

Harry watched him. Four months, this had been happening. Four months of emotions getting stronger and stronger, sometimes reaching a point so intense that midway through the passionate sex they would both stop, staring into each others eyes, both with their mouths slightly open as if about to say something; but neither ever uttered a word. It was as if they were torturing each other. But Harry knew... He knew the truth... He just didn't want to admit it.

He took a deep breath, "Why do you hold my hand, Draco?" Harry asked quietly.

Draco looked quite taken aback at the sudden question. "What?"

"You never used to hold my hand," Harry stated, "We had sex and that was it. But now, you lie there with me, holding me, whispering things in my ear that I..."

"Potter," Draco interrupted with a sudden air of dislike that he hadn't used in months, "Don't get so full of yourself. You're imagining things beyond the ordinary that aren't true. Stop it."

"Draco, don't try to run away from..."

"I'm going for a walk," Draco cut in again, making to leave the cell. "The one day a month they leave the door open and we never take advantage of it anymore. I'll see you later."

"Draco, don't!"

But no sooner had the words left Harry's lips, Draco had disappeared down the long corridor. Harry sighed exasperatedly and felt anger bubbling extremely close to the surface. He knew the truth, even if Draco was too weak to admit it. But then, Harry wouldn't admit it either... Because, well, for the simple fact that it wasn't true. It could not be true. The only thing that he and Draco felt for each other was gratitude for helping the other escape the confines of the prison each night... That was all.

The frustration roared inside him and he let out a vicious growling noise as he punched his bed with all the strength he could muster. After kicking it hard, too, he let himself flop onto Draco's bed behind him, but sprung up immediately again, having spotted something extraordinary in the corner of the room.

A tiny flicker of bright, orange fire had erupted from nowhere. Finally the thing Harry had been practicing for four months had happened first time. Admittedly, he had not planned it, but all the hours they had put into trying to make a fire to use to get out of here had paid off.

The anger and frustration disappeared instantly at the sight of it, and instead Harry erupted with excitement. But he wouldn't risk letting the fire grow now, not while Draco wasn't with him, just in case something went wrong. So with a bit more difficulty and effort, he put the fire out by making water appear from nowhere, and in a small puff of smoke, it was gone.

Harry smiled to himself. Surely this meant he was getting better, and within the next couple of weeks he'd be able to do what he had just done without having to feel angry to make it happen...

"Potter."

Harry jumped almost a mile as the Death Eater Runcorn said his name at the doorway to the cell. He then counted his blessings that he had put out the fire mere seconds before Runcorn arrived.

Harry stood up quickly and replied, "Sir?"

He was not looking directly into Runcorn's face. Over the months he had spent here he had learned that that was a bad thing to do.

"The Dark Lord wishes to see you."

Harry's breath caught in his throat and he couldn't help but look quickly into Runcorn's sneering face.

"What?" He said, his voice suddenly hoarse.

"Manners, Potter," Runcorn said, "Crucio..."

Harry fell to the floor with a bang and started screaming for his life. He couldn't control the words erupting from his lips as pain surged through his entire body, and it was only when the curse was lifted that he realised he had been screaming with all his might for Draco.

He gulped and looked up, breathing quickly. Draco was standing behind Runcorn, looking worried.

"Now, Potter," Runcorn said, evidently not noticing the crowd gathering around him, "What did you want to say?"

Harry took a few deep breaths, "I said... Sorry? Sir?"

"Better. And I said, the Dark Lord wishes to see you," Runcorn sneered again.

"Why?" Harry asked, but a second too late he realised this was a stupid question to ask. He saw Runcorn's wand jab towards him again and pain ran through him once more.

It went on for minutes that seemed like hours this time. Harry couldn't take it. He wanted to die, here and now, screaming with pain and calling out for Draco...

It finally stopped and Harry gulped fresh air into his constricted lungs.

"Don't ask questions, you filthy muggle-loving boy!" Runcorn yelled. "Get up."

Harry was shaking from head to toe; he felt as if there was not one ounce of strength left in him, but he pushed himself into some sort of standing position nonetheless.

"Good, now follow me."

Harry began to walk behind Runcorn who had strode off. His weak eyes caught Draco's for a split-second before he passed the silent crowd, but even that was long enough to understand what Draco thought. Harry was being taken away to his death...

Ten long minutes later, Runcorn and Harry arrived outside one of the rooms where visitors usually came and stopped. The door to the room was closed, but Harry knew what was waiting for him inside it. He had regained none of his strength on the journey over here, but his breathing was once again steady, and he made a decision to keep it that way. He would not give Voldemort the satisfaction of seeing him afraid.

"You're in luck, Potter," Runcorn said, "The Dark Lord is in a particularly good mood tonight."

Harry stayed staring resolutely at the door. That was, until something appeared in front of his face. A long, thin wooden stick that Harry hadn't seen for months...

He looked around at Runcorn enquiringly, and Runcorn said, "He wishes me to give it to you, before you go inside."

Harry looked back round at his wand that Runcorn was holding in front of him, and placed his hand delicately around it. As soon as Runcorn let go Harry felt a surge of electricity run down his arm and into his body. Suddenly determined, he straightened up again as a signal that he was ready to go in.

The door before him opened and he walked through.

He heard the door close behind him so that he was plunged into a darkened room, although not pitch black. And it was so long before Voldemort showed himself that Harry had actually readied himself into duelling position. When Voldemort did make a sound, however, it was the sound of the high-pitched laughter that Harry knew so well...

"No, Harry," He said in a cold voice that seemed amused, "We are not fighting tonight."

And then lights all around the room shone suddenly so that Harry had to blink to get used to the change.

He squinted his eyes and looked over to the other side of the room and saw him, that snakelike figure sitting there on not a mere chair, but what seemed to be throne. Harry tried hard to suppress a snort. The snakelike face had not changed much since Harry's capture all those months ago; it was still ghostly white and a sneer of accomplishment shone through the slits of eyes as his long, white fingers tenderly twisted his wand around his hand.

"Come now, Harry," Voldemort said, "Come and sit with me."

Harry had not yet relaxed his duelling position, but did so after a couple more seconds, and moved forward tentatively, not taking his eyes off his enemy.

"You are wondering, I assume, why I wanted to see you?"

Harry said nothing. Evidently this was the wrong thing to do. All pretence was abandoned as Harry fell off his chair in pain and started screaming again. This time, however, he concentrated as hard as he could not to say Draco's name. Whether that actually worked, he didn't know, but he didn't want Voldemort to know who Harry was close to in here.

The pain stopped and Harry heard, "Be polite, Harry. Answer me."

Harry gasped to make his breathing regular. "Yes," he said, "I wondered."

"Good. Well, Harry, I have a proposition for you."

Harry looked at him as he pulled himself back into a chair.

"You must know, of course, that I plan to duel - and kill - you when your year at this prison comes to an end?" Voldemort said casually.

Harry nodded, "Yes," he replied. It was no surprise to him; he had known it all along. He knew that if Hermione were here, however, she would have just gasped and burst into tears.

"Good. Well I'm willing to offer you an alternative." Harry sat up a little straighter. "I have been watching you very closely while you've been here, Harry, and I've come to learn - despite how much I hate to admit it - that the old man that you were once so close to was right about you. Dumbledore always told me you had strength beyond others, and he was right. I told my Death Eaters to put you through hell enough that you should have died by now, and yet here you sit before me, alive and seemingly well. This is not what I planned, but it has given me an idea. My proposition is this. If you will join me, be branded with my Mark and tell me where the Mudbloods are, I will not kill you." Harry opened his mouth to say 'no' straight away, but Voldemort had clearly not finished. "If you will not, however..." A strange sort of evil smile appeared on his snakelike face that almost made Harry shiver. "Then I will bring Draco Malfoy here on the day of your so-called release and torture and kill him before your eyes."

The room filled with a heavy silence. He knew. Voldemort knew. But of course he knew. How could Harry have been naive enough to think that he wouldn't know? And what was more, Voldemort knew that Harry would not let someone he - what was the word, loved? - be tortured to death while he went free.

"The choice is yours, Harry, but I want your answer now," Voldemort said. "And rest-assured, if you say no to joining me, Malfoy will not be the only one of your friends that meet their ends while you stand by and watch."

What was Harry to do? Simply join Voldemort and tell him where Hermione was, or refuse and get Draco killed and eventually Hermione and Ron too?

"Hurry up, Harry..." Voldemort said coldly. "Crucio!"

He didn't try and stop himself this time, but could almost hear himself screaming out Draco's name... For what seemed like endless minutes...

The curse lifted and Harry was on the floor again, breathing heavily.

But Harry had made his decision. It just hit him. He would be stupid to say anything else.

"They..." He said heavily, "Would rather die than have me join you."

This was not the answer Voldemort had been expecting. Harry could see it in his blank eyes.

"You're a fool, Harry," Voldemort whispered. "But I will see you in a few months, when we will find out if you are really as strong as your precious old man foolishly believed you are. Leave."

Harry stood up defiantly, his wand in his hand. He could strike now; kill Lord Voldemort in a flash of green if only he knew whether Ron and Hermione had destroyed the rest of the Horcruxes. But it was too risky to try. On the other hand, he could start a fire so easily right now. He wouldn't have to be angry to do it. But again, if the plan didn't work, Voldemort and all the Death Eaters would know it was Harry who had done it because he was the only person who had his wand on him.

With all the restraint he could muster, Harry lowered his wand from Voldemort's expecting face and turned around slowly. He tried to walk calmly and at a normal pace back to the door, but in all honesty, fear got the better of him, and he walked rather quickly away from the snakelike figure of Lord Voldemort.

* * *

><p>"Keep going, Potter," Runcorn whispered to Harry as they reached the corridor Harry's cell was on. "You filthy half-blood. You're walking right into your death..."<p>

Harry left him at the end of the corridor and proceeded down towards his and Draco's cell. All the way back he had been pondering whether or not to tell Draco about Voldemort's plans. And whether or not he had actually made the right decision. What if his and Draco's plan did not work out the way it was supposed to, and he didn't actually manage to break out of here before he was supposed to be released - well, killed? Then he would have just sentenced Draco to death when he still had years to go in here which he would have been able to survive.

Harry was still wondering whether or not to break the news to Draco when he heard voices in one of the cells he was coming up to. One comforting girls voice, and another obviously crying and rather agitated.

"Oh, Draco," Maisie's voice said gently, "How did you let yourself get in this far? You've never done this before, and you've had two cellmates before him."

Draco sniffed loudly and said breathily. "Just... something about... him... But... now... he's... dead!"

"Not necessarily. Just because he got taken away to the Dark Lord doesn't mean he's going to kill him..." Maisie's voice, however, didn't sound convinced.

Harry stopped to the side of the cell door and listened carefully.

"I'm so stupid... So, so stupid!" Draco said loudly through the tears.

"You're not stupid, Draco..." Maisie said, also sounding close to tears now, "You're just... in love..."

Harry's breath caught in his throat and he thought he had gasped, but the two carried on talking, having not heard a thing.

"Exactly!" Harry heard a crash and assumed Draco had thrown a plate or something. "I am! And now he's dead! And now I'll go insane and not be able to survive the rest of my time here because all I'll think about is him and I'll be punished and get killed!"

"Draco, calm down!" Maisie shouted. "Just calm down! There you go... All you need is... to get away... That's it... Yes..."

Harry couldn't see, but he knew what was happening. Maisie's tone had changed, everything had become suddenly quiet.

"Oh, Draco..."

Something erupted inside of Harry at Maisie's last words. His previous lack of energy had disappeared. It felt like fire was inside him, about to burst out.

Harry ran into the room and pulled Maisie off Draco and slammed her against the wall, his fist raised to her face.

"You..." He spat, but a weak voice spoke behind him.

"Harry..."

Harry looked at Draco, anger still roaring inside of him. He then looked back at Maisie who seemed as if she was about to faint from shock of his sudden arrival, threw her hard against the wall again and stormed out of the cell towards his own.

He was in there for barely five seconds when Draco entered after him. He had no idea what the expression on Draco's face meant, but Harry stopped punching the walls and looked at him, breathing quickly.

"You're..." Draco whispered.

"What the hell were you doing?" Harry yelled.

Draco was shaking his head slowly, "I thought you were..."

"What difference does that make?" Harry shouted again, slamming his fist into the wall for the fifth time.

Out of nowhere, the cell door was slammed and they were plunged into darkness. Harry didn't feel the slightest bit embarrassed that Runcorn had seen and heard this.

Suddenly, a hand was on Harry's face, running smoothly back into his hair. And then lips were on his, and his shirt had disappeared off his shoulders, and another warm tongue was next to his, and something hard was being pushed against his, which he just realised was also pulsing quickly.

But then he snapped back to reality, and pushed Draco away quickly.

"What is this?" He half shouted, half croaked.

"What?" Draco said breathily.

"What are you doing? What is this?" Harry asked. "I heard you talking to Maisie just now, I didn't only see..." But he couldn't say it. It made him sick to think of what Draco had almost done... with someone else... Neither of them had slept with anyone else in the prison for weeks and weeks.

"You heard?" Draco repeated. "You heard what I said?"

"Is it true? Or were you just hysterical?" Harry asked bluntly.

"I... I don't like to admit..." Draco stuttered.

"Admit what? That you love me..." Harry had spat out the sentence in a malicious way, but when Draco didn't reply, his whole body and energy collapsed.

Draco said nothing, but that meant everything. Harry dropped onto the bed he was standing next to; the feeling in his legs having long escaped him. They sat in silence for endless minutes next to each other. Harry suspected Draco was silently crying, and when his eyes finally adjusted to the light he saw he was right.

"We're going to die, aren't we Harry?" Draco whispered after a long time.

Harry chose his words carefully, as with a pang, he remembered being in the room with Voldemort, and what he had decided to do. "We all die someday."

"I - I have... fallen in love with you, Harry..." Draco whispered even more quietly.

And then, thinking of nothing else in the entire world, Harry replied, "I've fallen in love with you, too."

"Harry," Draco whispered then so quietly that Harry had to lean closer to hear, "Will you make love to me?"

Never before had Harry been asked that phrase, not by Draco, Ginny, or anyone. And for some reason, the way Draco asked it, or just the fact that he asked it at all, made his heart thump harder in his chest and a strange lump appeared in his throat.

He didn't need to say anything, but he leant a couple of inches closer and their lips touched - differently this time, softer...

Everything happened slowly, but quickly at the same time, as Draco's clothes were removed with such gentleness that he probably hardly noticed, and Harry's trousers merely slipped off as he lay Draco down and kissed his body. After a few minutes Harry had found the right place, and Draco gave a moan that meant he was ready, and Harry entered him. Draco let out a wild moan of pain and pleasure combined along with Harry. The new sensation made him smile weakly as he found a rhythm that suited and satisfied them both. Harry then took Draco's length in his hand and moved it with the rest of his body.

Occasionally, it was like Draco was trying to speak, but he could not find the strength or the words, so Harry just kissed him, and hoped that this would mean more than words could say.

All too soon it seemed, Harry and Draco let out louder groans than usual as Harry released into Draco. A few seconds later Draco did the same, and with a gasp from each, Harry moved and lay down beside him.

For a while they lay there in silence, lapping up each others presence and the warmth of their two bodies together as Harry kissed Draco's neck softly, nipping it every now and then causing Draco so smile and moan gratefully.

"Harry," Draco whispered after a long while.

"Hmm?" Harry moaned, being half asleep.

"If we die here, I hope we die together."

Harry opened his eyes and looked into Draco's, which were staring at the ceiling. He was going to elaborate or retaliate by telling Draco that this was not the end, not their fate, but he decided against it. The night had been too emotional already to start any conversations like that. So he merely said, "So do I. I love you, Draco."

Draco smiled softly and closed his eyes. "I love you, too."

* * *

><p><strong>AN** Ahh they finally declared their love for each other! I love writing this moment in stories! I hope I wrote it reasonably well! Let me know what you think :D


	8. Death is Easy

**A/N** Ok, so this is officially where I continued the story. You know how I was writing it a few years ago on the old account but stopped. Well, this is the first ACTUALLY NEW chapter. So I hope it is in keeping with the story that I began years ago. Let me know what you think.

Also, thank you to reviewers. Again, you keep me wanting to write

Death is Easy

Harry threw up and nearly started to choke on his own vomit. The tears that were streaming down his face now mixed with the substance that had escaped his mouth. Exactly what he had thrown up, he didn't know; for he hadn't eaten in days so surely there was nothing left in his stomach to come back up? Finally, after what seemed like several hours screaming and writhing in pain, not being able to breathe and throwing up, something in the back of Harry's mind told him this was probably it. This was the moment he had subconsciously been waiting for, for over ten months. He was going to die now. All the practising he had been doing to set the entire prison on fire – it was going to go to waste. Only a few days before they intended to put the plan into action. He let out a long, slow breath and finally stopped struggling. He closed his eyes and prepared himself to feel no more pain, and to drift away...

"Up."

The voice so suddenly rang around the room that Harry jumped and noticed that he was now lying in a pool of water rather than on top of the freezing, hard ice. The water was strangely comforting on his skin, which had been tortured more than ever today, so he lay there for a few seconds, steadying his breathing.

"I said get up!" The Death Eater (presumably Runcorn) yelled at him. And so Harry slowly sat up, shaking all over – not from the cold, but from exhaustion.

He daren't look at the pool of water he had just risen from, as the sight of his own vomit mixed with it would probably cause him to be sick again. Instead, he wiped his chin and neck before placing his hands back on the ice for one last time as he pushed himself off the edge.

Harry pulled his clothes back on, and slowly lifted his head to see Albert Runcorn looking at him as he had never done before. Harry didn't know what the expression was on his face – he almost wanted to say 'admiration', but that was ridiculous. No Death Eaters admired any of the prisoners in here, especially not Harry Potter.

"You're a hard one, Potter," Runcorn said as Harry walked towards the door.

Harry said nothing, but only kept walking.

"Over two hours on the ice and you're still not dead..." Runcorn continued. Harry thought that this was almost a compliment from the Death Eater, until he said, "If it weren't for the Dark Lord's plans, I'd just kill you with my wand. Lord knows, I'd love to be the one to get Harry Potter..."

They were halfway across the gravel path now. Harry could barely wait to reach his cell. To see Draco.

Draco had become Harry's only form of life over the past few weeks. The Death Eaters had been far harsher on Harry of late. This week they had stopped giving him food, and even made Draco's portions smaller. Little did they know that the whole thing was sort of comforting to Harry. Voldemort must have given orders to nearly kill Harry, which (in Harry's mind) must mean that Voldemort was worried about the day of Harry's 'release'. Perhaps the most evil wizard of all time actually thought Harry was more powerful that he bought everyone to believe. After all... Harry had lasted this long...

For the rest of the walk back to the cell Runcorn was trying to provoke Harry into talking back to him, but finally, after ten long months, Harry had learned to hold his tongue. To onlookers it would seem like Harry no longer cared about the terrible things the Death Eaters said about his friends outside the prison. This was not the case, of course. But right now Harry felt as though he would die if he were even pushed over, let alone given a few seconds of the cruciatus curse.

"Get in," Runcorn said angrily as they finally reached Harry's cell.

Harry looked inside, Draco was not here. Come to think of it, no one was in their cells right now. Harry must be missing the shower. A small blessing, in this hellish place.

He stayed standing until he heard Runcorn walk away, and then slowly lowered himself onto his bed. He had never felt this bad here, not even in his first few days in the prison. But it seemed that sex would no longer help him to survive when he was spending two hours at a time on the ice and not eating.

Harry lay down just as people started to pass through the corridor. He could not look at them, but stared blankly up at the ceiling. Another thing he had gotten very good at was not closing his eyes when he was this weak. Especially when Draco was not here to watch over him.

"Harry..." A meek voice spoke in the doorway.

Harry rolled his eyes – this was all he needed.

"I'm fine," Harry lied.

"Draco's on his way back..." Maisie replied, "Do you want me to stay with you until he gets here?"

"No, thank you. I'm fine," He said again.

"You really need..."

"Go away, Maisie," Harry cut her off as forcefully as he could.

"Oh for goodness sake, Harry!" Maisie snapped angrily. "I'm not going to try anything – I'm genuinely worried about you!"

"That's a first," Harry said dryly – he had picked up a lot of Draco's mannerisms over his time here.

"You're the worst I've seen you..." Maisie said quietly. Harry was shocked to hear that it sounded like she was crying. "Don't give up, Harry... Please, _please_ don't give up..."

"Maisie."

Harry's heart skipped a beat as he heard Draco's worried voice down the corridor.

"Draco..." Maisie cried. "I think... This is it... I don't know if you should look at him right now..."

Harry considered this. Perhaps he looked worse than he thought he did. But then again, after not eating for four days and lying on the ice for over two hours, how else did he expect to be looking?

"Harry..." Draco's voice was so close. His hands grasped one of Harry's. Harry hadn't even realised that his eyes were closed.

He looked at Draco and smiled faintly.

"Don't give up on me, Harry," Draco whispered softly.

Harry smiled wider. "I'd never give up on you."

Draco leaned in and kissed Harry's forehead.

"Do you know how easy death is, Draco?" He looked at Draco's face again and saw a questioning look. "Life is so much harder. It would be so much easier for me to just die."

"You wouldn't dare..." Draco said, a hint of panic in his voice.

Harry shook his head, "No. I'm going to save you first."

"And yourself," Draco replied quickly. "You'll love living again when we get out of here, Harry. Think how nice it will be when we can have sex on a proper bed!"

Harry laughed weakly. "Yeah, I'm looking forward to that."

There was a pause in which Draco kissed the tears which were unwillingly falling from Harry's eyes. He didn't even know why or where they were coming from.

"I need to sleep," Harry whispered. "Will you watch over me?"

"Always," Draco replied, running his hand through Harry's matted hair.

* * *

><p>Harry turned onto his side. It felt as though his back was literally on fire. As he turned he realised that he could smell the rotten tomato soup that the prisoners were given each day.<p>

"We're not sharing today," Draco said confidently from over on his own bed, "You're eating all of mine – no arguments."

Harry slowly sat up and took the plate of bread and bowl of soup without asking, but did say, "It's my fault you're getting weaker." Draco opened his mouth to argue but Harry continued quickly. "If I didn't scream your name so loud when being tortured the might assume that we're still enemies, so they wouldn't correctly assume that you're giving me your dinner..."

"Exactly, Harry; Might," Draco retorted. "They _might_ assume that we're still enemies. But the Death Eaters know that none of us are enemies here. They are stupid, but they would have figured it out soon enough anyway." Draco paused as he watched Harry glug down some of the ill-smelling soup. "Besides, I'm not getting weaker. I'm fit as a fiddle."

"You're not," Harry replied, "On top of me eating your food, I also don't even have the energy to sleep with you anymore, which means that you're probably getting less sleep..."

"Harry, stop torturing yourself, _please_!" Draco snapped. "As if the Death Eaters don't do that enough already!"

Harry put down the now empty plate and bowl. "At least drink half of the water..." He pleaded.

Draco rolled his eyes and picked up the dirty plastic cup and took a few sips of equally dirty water from it.

"Happy?" Draco asked sarcastically. "Anyway," he smirked, "It doesn't really matter if I get weaker... It's not as if the Dark Lord is planning on fighting me anytime soon!"

Harry nearly flinched, but managed to hide it.

He had decided never to tell Draco about Voldemort's plan to kill him in front of Harry when Harry's year was up here. He knew what Draco was like and, in the nicest way possible, knew that Draco would go insane with fear if he heard about Voldemort's intentions. Harry could handle the very strong possibility that he might die here, he had even come to terms with it; but Draco was not like that. Draco hadn't experienced so much death in his life as Harry had. Harry knew that death was only another part of life, and it didn't scare him anymore. Draco, on the other hand, felt only guilt when he thought of Dumbledore's death, and that was the only death he had ever encountered, so how could he possibly be ok with it?

No, Harry planned on not telling Draco that they both may die soon. It was easier if he bared that burden alone.

Harry took the half-empty cup from Draco and emptied it. Despite how dirty the water was, he always loved to feel the cool liquid in his mouth, and slide down his throat. It was somewhat refreshing, especially when it felt as though his back was on fire.

"Draco..." Harry said quietly, looking at the cup in his hands.

"Yes?" Draco replied when Harry didn't continue.

"I think..." Harry paused. This was difficult for him to say, but he knew he must say it. "I think you should find someone else."

There was silence for so long after Harry spoke that he finally raised his head to look at Draco, who was staring at him with a gaping mouth.

"For your health," Harry explained, before Draco got the chance to ask why. "Like I said, being with me – and only me – is not good for you right now. I can't give you what you need. You can't escape with me anymore. And what's worse is you're staying awake at night to make sure I don't die in my sleep, and..."

"Having sex with other people won't help me to sleep at night, Harry!" Draco yelled suddenly. "I'll still come back to this cell and worry that you're going to die! How could you... I just..."

"It will make you stronger..." Harry tried to reason with him, finding it incredibly ironic that ten months ago the pair had more or less the same conversation dozens of times, but on different sides.

"Are you trying to tell me something?" Draco whispered now, tears beginning to fall from his eyes.

"What?" Harry had no idea what the Draco meant.

"Are you trying to tell me that you don't love me anymore?" Draco cried. "You're thinking about her aren't you? Is it because we're not having sex or because you're dying?"

"I'm not..."

"Yes you are!" Draco cut him off. "You're thinking about Ginny and falling out of love with me and dying, and..."

"Draco!" Harry said as strongly as he could. Draco stopped talking but was breathing heavily. Slowly, and painfully, Harry stood up and went to sit by Draco on his bed. Putting down the cup he was still holding he took Draco's hands in his and said quietly, "None of those things are happening. You know I love you. That's why I suggested it... Because I can't bear the thought of you becoming so weak that you..." He could not bring himself to say the final word, but Draco said it for him:

"Die..." There was a pause as Draco calmed down and squeezed Harry's hands. "That won't happen. And..." He continued hastily as Harry opened his mouth to retort, "I'm not going to say another word on the subject. I don't want to fight with you. I can't fight with you. Just drop it, Harry. You don't have the strength to beat me on this one."

Harry sighed; Draco was right. He was never going to agree with Harry and Harry knew it. There was no way Draco would ever sleep with someone else now; they were too in love.

"We need to do it soon," Harry said after a few minutes of silence.

"Do what?" Draco asked, "The plan?"

"Of course, the plan," Harry laughed, "What else?"

"I..." Draco stuttered, "Yes..."

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes. Over the past few months Draco had – for some reason – come to believe that setting the prison on fire was something they should _not_ be doing. Harry suspected it was because Draco was frightened that it would all go horribly wrong, and Harry would die in the process. He had to admit that the same thought had crossed his mind, but there wasn't really anything they could do about it now. The only thing Harry had got good at doing was starting a fire, so that was their only escape plan. And he was not changing his mind about it now, purely because he did not want to get to the day he was supposed to be 'released'... The thought of seeing Draco murdered by Voldemort was too much for him...

"Harry..." Draco interrupted his thoughts.

"Don't even go there, Draco," Harry dismissed.

"But Harry, you know how I feel about this..."

"Yes, I do!" Harry sort of yelled, being too weak to do it any real justice. "And every time you mention it I'm going to get angry at you! You were the one who convinced me to do this in the first place, Draco. I've spent hours and hours using up valuable energy to practise! Half the time I'm on the ice is because I've been too caught up in my thoughts about this to concentrate on actually staying alive in here!"

"Don't do that, Harry!" Draco yelled back. "Don't make out like it's my fault you're like this – half dead and burnt so badly that you can barely move!"

"Well it _is_ your fault, Draco! And now you're..."

"It's thanks to me that you even survived your first two weeks in here, Harry!" Draco cut him off. "If it wasn't for me you wouldn't be here at all!"

"Yeah, well I'd prefer to be dead than suffering like this!" Harry yelled.

Draco said nothing, but stared at Harry with wide eyes. The echo of Harry's last words died out quickly, and they were both left fuming, staring at each other.

They very rarely had arguments like this; it was only ever when Harry had had a particularly bad day, like today. This often made him feel guilty. He knew that he only started these arguments because he was fed up with life in here and he needed someone to blame other than himself. It was exactly like the arguments he used to have with Ron at Hogwarts. Petty little things that never amounted to anything.

Suddenly, Harry found himself crying. The thought of Ron had done it. They would know what to do – Ron and Hermione – if they were here. They would sort out all Harry's problems just like they always used to. He missed them so much. He never let himself think about them in here, because that's exactly what would have driven him mad; he learnt that in his first few weeks here. But that just made it hurt all the more when they did enter his mind. He sometimes forgot how close the three of them really were. He hadn't seen or heard from them in months – for all Harry knew they could be dead.

"Harry... Please don't cry," Draco whispered so close to Harry's ear that he could feel warm breath inside it.

"I'm sorry," Harry sniffed. "I wouldn't prefer to be dead and none of this is your fault... I just want... I want it to be over."

Draco nodded slowly. "That's why it's so important to go ahead with the plan," He said, as if it were all of a sudden dawning on him why Harry was so keen to put the plan to action. Harry nodded.

"Ok, look," Draco sighed. "You need to try and go a few days without getting into any trouble. Get some sleep, eat my food, and then maybe you'll be strong enough to ignite a fire. Deal?"

Harry half-smiled, "Not get into any trouble? Do you not remember who I am?"

Draco laughed. "You're Harry Potter, and I love you. And if you love me too you'll promise to at least _try_ to not get into trouble!"

"Well, I've never tried to get into trouble; trouble just finds me!" Harry laughed. "But yes, I promise."

Draco smiled and leaned in to kiss Harry. Those warm lips always made Harry feel better, no matter what his day had been like.

"How long was I asleep for, then?" Harry asked casually after a few minutes kissing and lying down close to Draco.

"A few hours," Draco replied, "You seem better for it."

"Yeah, I feel better," Harry replied, "Apart from my back..."

"Hmm," Draco mumbled. "I'm sad that I never got to see your back before it had been blistered. I bet it was strong and dark and smooth."

Harry chuckled softly, "You will see it, fool. We're not Muggles; I'm sure that Madam Pomfrey would be able to get rid of the blisters overnight. There must be some sort of potion or something to remove scars."

"Pomfrey?" Draco repeated sort of disbelievingly. "You wouldn't go to a proper Healer?"

"Madam Pomfrey is a proper Healer!" Harry laughed. "She's the best I've met, as well. She re-grew my bones in my arm in second year at Hogwarts! I'd never ask anyone else to heal me apart from her."

"You are so very odd, Harry," Draco said.

Harry paused and considered for a moment. "Maybe..." He said, "But I suppose I just like holding on to the past. Hogwarts was the happiest I've ever been, so every aspect of what went on inside it will always be the best thing for me."

"Aren't you the happiest you've ever been with me?" Draco asked quietly, sounding rather hurt. "I know we're in the worst place on earth, but at least we're together... Aren't you happy with that?"

Harry smiled to himself, "Of course I am, but you get what I mean." On Draco's lack of reply Harry moved in closer to him and whispered, "I love you, Draco, more than I've ever loved anyone."

And Harry lowered his head to kiss Draco once again, who kissed him passionately back. They both started to breathe heavily, and Draco's hands slipped underneath Harry's shirt and pulled it off over his head.

Harry had no idea where he was getting the energy from for this, but all of a sudden Draco was lying on top of him and his hard cock was pressing against Harry's – which was equally as excited. The pain in his back subsided, for he was feeling too many other good sensations to notice the burning anymore. Draco nibbled at Harry's neck, and Harry pulled at Draco's shirt, about to take it off...

"Argh!"

Harry yelled out in pain and jumped so hard that Draco was thrown off him and onto the floor. Harry's hand flew up to his forehead, and he grasped his scar which was hurting him so badly it felt like he was being stabbed in the head.

"Harry!" Draco yelled at him, not realising what was happening.

"Argh..." Harry moaned again. And with his eyes closed, a horrific image printed fiercely in his mind.

"Harry, what..."

"Shush!" Harry shouted, having sat up now, he needed to concentrate...

He thought of anything, everything that was not Draco or the plan they had to escape. Images of Hogwarts flew into his mind, images of Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Dumbledore, Sirius – anything that was not Draco.

The pain was so severe that he started to heave. He could feel sweat dripping down his face until finally it stopped.

The searing pain in his scar disappeared and he was left with only a deep throbbing, as if he had just been punched. He was breathing quickly and still had his eyes closed. One fatal image was left imprinted in his mind; two snakelike eyes, staring at him.

"Harry, what is it?" Draco asked quietly, but with a sort of urgency.

Harry took a deep breath, gathering the dozens of thoughts that were flying around his head.

"Voldemort."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** AAAARRRRGGGHHH! What did you think? I apologise that most of this chapter seems pretty boring, but there were a lot of things I wanted you to know about how Harry was feeling. So even though it seems like a filler chapter it's not really. It's quite important. Especially the end... Please review!


	9. The Plan

**A/N **I'm so so so so so sorry for the wait guys! Basically, I did a really stupid thing – I wrote the entire chapter and saved it to my memory stick, then deleted it from my computer, thinking that it was safely on my memory stick. And when I went to upload it, only half the chapter was on the stick! I don't know how that happened! But that's my excuse! Sorry, once again!

The Plan

Draco said nothing. The two of them just sat there in the darkness of their cell. Harry was still breathing quickly, trying to think what best to do.

He didn't know how he knew, but somehow Harry was certain that Voldemort knew Harry had blocked him from his mind. Finally, all those hours of occlumency lessons with Snape had paid off from six years ago. But it wasn't enough. Draco knew everything that Harry had been plotting for the past goodness knew how long, he was actually a key part of it, and Harry knew that Draco barely even understood what occlumency was, let alone how to do it...

"What do you mean?" Draco suddenly asked urgently. "What's happening?"

Harry had previously told Draco all about how Harry could often see into the mind of Voldemort, so at least the blonde had some sort of why Harry threw him off himself only minutes ago.

Harry stood up very suddenly. He had made no plan in his head, but was instead doing what he had seemed to do for his entire life; making things up as he went along.

"Draco, you mustn't think of anything to do with the escape plan," He said quickly, grasping Draco's arms as he did so. "Think of anything else apart from me or getting out of here. Think of your parents, Hogwarts, Crabbe and Goyle... Anything!"

"Why, Harry? What's going on?" Draco asked in a terrified voice.

Harry knew it was probably too late, by now Voldemort would have invaded Draco's mind and discovered their plans.

"He got to me," Harry explained quickly. "He got inside my mind. He was wondering why I'm not dead yet. I think I managed not to let anything slip about the plan before I managed to block him. But he will try to read your mind, too. He knows we're close. Don't let him in Draco, or we'll both be dead in minutes!"

"Harry... I can't..." Draco stuttered, but Harry barely heard him. He was wondering around the tiny cell. There was nothing they could do but wait to see what happened. If only they could get out somehow, then he'd start the fire...

They both jumped almost a mile as the door to their cell suddenly swung open; Draco even squeaked a little in terror.

Harry's eyes could not adjust to the sudden light flooding in, but he readied himself to see the pale, snakelike figure of Voldemort when he got used to it.

He blinked a few times and looked towards the corridor. There was no one there.

He stepped forwards so that his head was poking out of the doorway.

"Harry! Don't!" Draco whispered.

But in Harry's mind he had nothing to lose. He would probably die before the day ended anyway, so walking out into the unknown didn't phase him.

"There's no one here..." Harry whispered, so that he could barely hear himself. He earned no reply, so he turned around quickly and repeated, "Draco there's no one here; quickly!"

He pointed to his side, signalling for Draco to join him. The blonde did slowly, and Harry grabbed his arm and raced away through the corridor, all lack of energy having disappeared and a rush of adrenaline replacing it.

"Harry," Draco struggled in Harry's firm grip, trying to go back to the 'safety' of their cell. "Harry stop! Where are we going?"

"Out..." Harry replied.

It had dawned on Harry that Voldemort must not have realised that Harry blocked him out of his mind. Which meant that Voldemort may not have looked into Draco's mind at all... Yet. He came to this conclusion because of the fact that there were no Death Eaters around anywhere. All was silent.

Of course, perhaps he was being completely stupid and this was a huge ambush, but his gut told him otherwise: Ambushing was not really Voldemort's style.

"What do you mean, out?" Draco said somewhat hysterically.

Harry didn't reply, but passed a door from which he could hear intense moaning, and stopped in his tracks. Draco flew into the back of him.

"Fire..." Harry muttered.

"What?" Draco said for the umpteenth time in five minutes.

"We can't just leave..." Harry said, more to himself than to Draco, "We have to get everyone else out, too..."

"Harry!" Draco exclaimed, "You're so weak! I know you don't feel like you are right now but you'd never be able to start a fire big enough to set the whole prison alight! And besides, everyone is locked in their cells, how do you plan on getting them out?"

Harry paused for a moment after Draco's words. But then it hit him. It had not seemed odd to him that right after he had thought to himself 'We need to get out' the door to their cell opened immediately. It was magic. Harry had somehow opened the door.

'Get the prisoners out', he thought, 'Get the prisoners out!' But it didn't work.

With the passing seconds Harry was worried that he was wrong and that this was, in fact, and ambush. Voldemort had opened the door to his cell and he had fallen right into a trap and bought Draco with him...

"Open!" Harry yelled suddenly, giving Draco a fright.

"Shush! Stop yelling!" Draco whispered frantically.

"Open!" Harry ignored him. "Alohamora!"

All of the doors in the corridor burst open, and all the doors throughout the prison, by the sounds of the echoing. A few people screamed slightly, as Draco had done.

"Harry... How...?" Draco coughed out, but Harry didn't reply.

It took a few seconds for people to emerge from their cells, and Harry assumed it was because they were putting their clothes back on after the interrupted sex.

He didn't wait for anyone to start asking questions when they all turned to realise he and Draco were standing there. "We're escaping," Harry shouted as loud as he could. "The Death Eaters are nowhere around. I'm going to start a fire at every corner of the prison. Everyone follow me to the exit – the door we use to get to the ice huts!"

He turned around before people could even question him and started to speed walk towards the door. At the same time, he heard calls behind him of "What?" and "He's mad," but he ignored it and started saying clearly in his head 'Incendio, incendio, incendio...'

Every time he said it he heard loud screams from the parts of the prison he was thinking about. It was working. Suddenly, his heart lifted – perhaps this could actually work. They were going to get out.

Harry grabbed Draco's hand as he started to run, still lighting fires around the building.

But then, he fell.

"Aaargh!" He screamed.

People running behind him gasped in shock and gathered around him.

Another piercing scream echoed through his mind, and he knew only he could hear it. The searing pain in his scar stopped as quickly as it started.

Gasping for breath, Harry stood up, ignoring Draco asking if he was ok.

"He knows..." Harry wheezed. "He's coming. Run!"

They flew off in the same direction and reached the door. Harry opened it with hardly any effort at all, but just as he was out to run through it into the open air it slammed shut again of its own accord.

Harry grabbed Draco and pulled him close. He knew what was going to happen. This was all his fault. Voldemort's intentions for two months time were going to become a reality right here and now. He was going to kill Draco; Harry knew it.

"Harry, I'm frightened..." Draco said. Harry had never heard him sound so vulnerable, and it was his fault.

Harry opened the door again but it immediately slammed shut. He could hear some of the other prisoners crying, others were backing slowly away to their cells; but Harry had started the fires. Perhaps Voldemort's intention was to let them all burn to death.

Suddenly, the lights went out and they were all plunged into complete darkness. Draco held him even tighter, and Harry felt his tears fall onto his shoulders. Harry, however, was dry-eyed and waiting.

"You've been a bad boy, Potter."

Many people screamed at the voice. Harry jumped because it was so close to him.

The lights came back on and Harry saw half a dozen Death Eaters, led by Runcorn, standing between himself and the rest of the prisoners.

"The Dark Lord wishes you to know that he appreciates your magical ability," Runcorn continued, "But if it is only opening doors that you're good at, he believes you're not worth keeping..."

Runcorn raised his wand and pointed it, not at Harry, but at Draco.

But Harry had noticed the fatal error. Voldemort was unaware that Harry had set the prison on fire. Sure, it was only a matter of minutes until he realised, but it was valuable time that had been awarded to Harry.

"Avada ked..."

"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled, pointing his hand towards Runcorn, not knowing if it would work. But in a flash of light, Harry was now holding Runcorn's wand...

Many people cheered, and Runcorn stepped backwards quickly, staring at Harry with wide eyes. For the second time in 5 minutes, Harry felt a glimmer of hope, but it diminished after half a second as he realised that he wouldn't be able to disarm all of the Death Eaters alone.

The rest of the Death Eaters now aimed their wands at him, and he knew they would strike willingly were it not for Voldemort's orders. At least, Harry assumed that was why he wasn't dead yet...

"Drop it, Potter," Runcorn said sternly, but Harry firmly kept his grip on the life-saving strip of wood in his hand.

Suddenly, Draco was yanked away from him by another Death Eater. The blonde screamed, and screamed again when a wand was held against his neck.

"Harry!" He yelled.

"Drop the wand, Potter!" The Death Eater shouted whilst causing Draco to fall to his knees.

Harry looked into Draco's eyes. Tears were falling from them. Harry's stomach flipped over. Draco didn't want to die; he had barely begun to live, and come to think of it neither had Harry. All his wizarding life he had been following a path that had been laid out for him, not living his life the way he thought other people did – normal people. Draco didn't deserve to die. 'Drop the wand!' Harry's head kept telling him, 'Drop the wand!' But some other part of him was telling him that even if he did drop it, to spare Draco's life at that moment in time would be a waste, as they'd kill him later for aiding Harry in the first place. And Harry would die too. Perhaps he should just let it end now... He was never going to win.

At the back of his mind Harry could hear that people at the back of the crowd were starting to scream – he remembered the fire. The fire that was rapidly spreading from every corner of the prison. All the other people didn't deserve to die either... And Harry would not let them die because of a fire that he'd created.

He made a split-second decision, and not even stopping to consider the consequences, flicked the wand in his hand towards the door so quickly that barely anyone noticed, and when they did notice it was too late. In his head he yelled to himself 'Reducto!'

He dropped the wand at the same time that a deafening bang boomed around the walls. And it happened in slow motion.

Harry leapt from where he stood over to Draco, whom the Death Eater had released upon shock of hearing the boom. He shoved Draco onto the floor and lay on top of him. People were screaming, and shards of iron door flew over their heads, followed instantly by pieces of rubble, both tiny and huge rocks of it. Harry saw people running backwards, the way they had come, and debated whether or not he should attempt to get up and pull Draco with him, but it was too late; huge pieces of the walls and ceiling were now coming down all around them. To stand up now would be suicide.

Miraculously, nothing larger than the size of an apple landed on him, and within about twenty seconds all was silent. Harry lifted his head and breathed in a lungful of rubble dust. Coughing, he stood up and looked around quickly. Somehow, in a way that he would only think possible in fiction – or his prayers – all of the Death Eaters that had surrounded him were seemingly unconscious beneath various parts of the building that had crumbled.

"Get up!" He said hoarsely to Draco, who was shaking from head to foot.

Draco began slowly to push himself up, but Harry rolled his eyes and lifted him up himself. "Grab as many wands as you can," He said, turning his head to see if the rest of the prisoners were still close-by.

He heard coughing, and soon more screaming, as people came running back into view.

"Everyone!" Harry yelled as loud as he could. He was sort of breathless, and assumed that all the strenuous activity was beginning to take its toll on him. "They're unconscious! Watch your step on the floor but follow me out! Quickly!"

And without waiting for argument or any other word from anyone, Harry turned, grabbed Draco's arm and ran.

He ran as fast as his feet could carry him, over the concrete-strewn floor, and towards fresher smelling air. He halted slightly when, after only a matter of seconds, he came to a sort of mound made up of debris from the explosion. But he battled on, climbing over it onto grass, sweet, soft, damp grass that felt like heaven on his feet. But he could not revel on it for too long, people were now following him and racing past him to get to the entrance to the prison grounds.

How exactly they were going to overcome the guards at the gates he didn't know, but then it occurred to him that perhaps they would have moved off to see what the explosion was all about.

Hope. Still small, but it had arrived again.

"Harry! Harry!" He heard his name being called by a voice he did not recognise but kept running anyway. "Harry!" A hand grabbed his shoulder and spun him around so that he nearly fell over.

Panting, he looked at the person who had stopped him. A boy, younger than himself by the looks of it, and who he had never seen before stood there breathing quickly. The boy was surprisingly clean considering all the dust from the building.

"There are visitors!" He yelled.

"What?" Harry asked as people continued to sprint past them. Subconsciously, Harry knew that Draco was stood right behind him, waiting for him.

"It's visitor night!" The boy said. "My cell is right down past the visiting room. As I ran past away from the fire I heard them screaming and banging on the door! It must be locked and they've had their wands taken away from them! The fire is so close to that room!"

Still struggling for breath, Harry stared at him. "You think..." He breathed, "You think they're locked in there to die?"

"Yes! What shall we do?" The boy answered frantically.

The boy was right. Those visitors were locking in that room purposefully by Voldemort, presumably, so that they would burn to death. This meant that Voldemort knew that there were raging fires in the prison. And he knew that Harry would not run away to let innocent people die...

After a few seconds of silence, Draco appeared by his side and whispered, "Harry, no..."

Harry turned his head to look Draco in the eyes. They stared at each other for a moment before Harry turned back to look at the boy.

"Thanks," He said, "Keep running, I'll sort it."

And with that the boy sped off in the direction with the other prisoners who were still flooding past him.

"Harry, no!" Draco said loudly this time.

Harry did not reply but tugged a wand from Draco's grip. Noticing he had picked up five back in the prison.

"Harry, you can't go back there, I won't let you!" Draco shouted.

Harry looked up into Draco's eyes again. "Keep running. You're in charge now." He said firmly. "You keep the wand that feels best to you, and you give the other three to people that look more able. Do you understand me?"

"Harry, I..." Draco stuttered.

"Do you understand me?" Harry repeated, getting slightly frustrated because every second spent here was a second the fire got closer to the visitors room. He might already be too late...

"I can't do magic in here, Harry!" Draco burst suddenly.

"You have a wand, Draco!" Harry yelled back.

"But, I... I can't..."

"Yes you can!" Harry said. "And you're not alone. Give the remaining wands to other able-looking people and they will help you. "Promise me!"

"I... I..." Draco stuttered again. "I promise..."

Harry flung his hand to the back of Draco's head and pulled him forward to plant a kiss on his forehead. "Go!"

He said it as he already started running back towards the prison. And with a start he saw that it was blazing. In the evening light he even had to squint his eyes to look at it. It was as if he were running towards the sun: A huge, burning, deadly place.

After minute of running he again reached the mound of debris, struggled over it, and sprinted back into the prison.

There was no one left here now, only himself and still the bodies of Death Eaters. He supposed he should move them, to stop them from burning, but they were not innocent...

Slightly unnerved by his uncaring thoughts Harry battled on, racing down corridor after corridor, meeting no one on the way, until finally he reached the door to the visitors room.

Billowing smoke was coming around the corner – he had only minutes until the entrance to the room was engulfed in fire.

"Alohamora," He said calmly, and the door swung open.

He dashed inside and ignored the surprised calls when people realised who was saving them.

"There's a fire!" He announced to the room at large. "Get out the door and run to your left as fast as you can! Keep going in that direction. Go!"

Frustratingly, it took the onlookers a few seconds to realise what Harry had said and to start moving out. He watched people move past him, somewhat shocked at the amount of people there were.

"Harry!" Harry turned and almost fell to the floor in disbelief when he saw the source of the calling.

"Harry, what's happening?" Hermione (posing as Luna) shrieked.

"What are you doing here?" Was all Harry could say. They could not have picked a worse day to come and visit him.

"We came to see you!" Hermione squeaked.

"We have so much to tell you, mate," Ron said casually, as if they were not about to die at any given moment. Clearly they had no idea what was going on.

"Not now, Ron," Harry replied exasperatedly.

"Harry, you look like you're about to die!" Hermione said quickly, tears in her eyes.

"I know!" He said loudly. "Now come..."

"HARRY!"

Harry's eyes closed in disdain, everything was going wrong. Draco raced into the room, crying uncontrollably, and basically fell into Harry's arms, apparently not noticing Ron or Hermione.

"I couldn't do it, Harry!" Draco cried, "I couldn't leave without you!"

"Ok," Harry whispered softly into Draco's ear, "It's ok, Draco, I'm here... It's fine."

From the corner of his eye he could see Ron and Hermione looking at each other as if they had both just found out they were related.

"Draco, stop it!" Harry yelled, and Draco took a huge sniff and stood himself up at arms length from Harry. Clearly that was when he realised they were not alone.

"What are they doing here?" Draco spat suddenly, sounding almost the way he had done in their Hogwarts days.

"They came to have a tea party, Draco," Harry said dryly, "Next to a bonfire. Now, can we please all just run!"

Again, without looking back, Harry ran for it. He could hear the other three hot on his tail, so he kept running. Every step was like running on sharp nails, every breath was harder and harder, weaker and weaker; soon, he was barely breathing at all, just wheezing. And then, he fell.

"Harry!" All three of his companions called together.

"Harry, get up," Hermione shrieked, "Please get up!"

"I... I just... Need..." Harry panted.

"He needs to get his breath back," Ron said, and Harry saw him lean against a wall. "Where did the fire come from, then?" He asked Draco, again sounding as if this were all not important and somewhat of a game.

"Fire!" Draco yelled back. "Fire? We can't talk, Weaselby! We have to get out!"

And Harry felt Draco's hands under his shoulders, trying to yank him up. "Harry, come on," Draco pleaded, "You _have_ to get up!"

Harry couldn't speak, so he shook his head slowly.

"Yes! Yes you can!" Draco shouted at him. "You've come this far, Harry Potter! You're so close! Don't give up!"

Harry's eyes were closed, but he felt another set of hands grab the sides of his chest to lift him up. And then another pair below those, bringing him to his feet. Draco moved to Harry's right side and put Harry's arm over his shoulder, and someone else did the same on his left side as they began to walk quickly.

It was then that Harry realised how hot it had turned. He opened his eyes and looked back to see the fire engulfing the space of corridor where the four of them had just been. This sight spurred Harry on, and somehow he began to run alone.

Soon, they made it to the mound of ruined building, where Harry had to be helped over by the rest of them.

They ran on for another two minutes, and once again Harry started to believe that this was going to work. If things had gone wrong at the gate then there would surely be some sort of a battle going on on this very field, but all was quiet ahead of them, until...

"ARGH!"

Draco screamed as he was violently pulled into the air feet first, hitting his head on the ground as he was turned over.

"Draco!" Harry yelled and tried to reach out for his hand, but Draco accelerated faster than a world-class broomstick would have done.

Harry looked around wildly and then saw, not thirty feet from him, hundreds of people knelt against the ground, silent, unmoving.

He raised his gaze past the prisoners to see Voldemort, as white and as snakelike as ever, standing in front of them all, a sneering smile on his face.

* * *

><p><strong>AN** Sorry, this chapter was insanely long! Hope you all don't mind! I kind of feel like it's made up for the wait! Hope you enjoyed, please review!


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